100 years in, Oxford’s Crestholm Farm continues its long family traditions

Faces have changed, barns have been raised and razed, and the neighborhood has become known for games of chance. But Crestholm Farm, founded in 1926 by Alfred and Marcia Thurlow, remains a staple of Main Street in Oxford.

Posted September 15

Updated September 15

Nicole Carter Staff Writer

Crestholm Farm has been a staple in Oxford since 1926. Its current stewards are fourth-generation Brian Hall, left, who has worked and operated the farm his entire life, and fifth-generation Shawn Morse, who runs the farm stand. (Nicole Carter/Staff Writer)

This year, Crestholm Farm in Oxford is celebrating 100 years of feeding Oxford Hills. It has been the work of the Thurlow family since 1926, when it was founded by Alfred and Marcia.

The farm then passed into the hands of their son, Evan, and his wife, Priscilla, granddaughter Suzanne and her husband, Leslie Hall, great-grandson Brian Hall, and great-great-grandson Shawn Morse.

Three generations oversaw dairy production before transitioning to beef cattle. A staple throughout has been fresh eggs. In recent years fresh produce and flowers became dominant products, with both wholesale and retail customers.

Today Cresthom Farm is operated by fourth-generation Brian Hall and fifth-generation Shawn Morse. The uncle/nephew duo succeed by doing as their forebears did: adjust and innovate to meet the demand for locally-produced quality food, while upholding their family’s legacy.

Hall is a lifelong resident of the farm property, save the four years he attended University of Maine in Orono.

Brian Hall is the fourth generation owner/operator of Crestholm Farm in Oxford. He has lived on the property most of his life, running it first with his parents and grandparents, and now with his nephew, Shawn Morse. (Nicole Carter/Staff Writer)

His tenure bridges his great-grandparents’ and grandparents’ (Evan and Priscilla Thurlow) legacy milking herd, with a later transition to beef cattle with his mother, Suzanne Thurlow Hall, and then the shift into garden produce.

Morse, the son of Evan and Priscilla’s granddaughter Marcia, worked on the farm growing up. As a young adult he moved on to find his own way but returned three years ago to help his uncle update the farm stand’s sales software.

He has been there ever since, bringing in new production ideas and developing the skills to make them work.

“We’ve diversified,” Morse explained of Crestholm’s pivotal 100th year in business during a recent tour of the store, gardens and greenhouses. “Business is up by like 70% since I’ve come back to work. As my uncle said, I’m vested, and I’m family.

“It’s more than a job. We’re here to keep the tradition going, and I’ll do it as long as I can, as long as Brian wants to keep doing it.”

Shawn Morse is a fifth generation stakeholder of Oxford’s Crestholm Farm. The farm was founded in 1926 by his great-great-grandparents, Alfred and Marcia Thurlow. (Nicole Carter/Staff Writer)

After first pivoting away from a business model heavily reliant on wholesale produce to refocus on retail through the farm stand, this year they expanded in a new direction, adding refrigeration to support meat sales and building out a commercial kitchen at the store.

Morse found himself running the kitchen when it became clear that if the baked goods were to meet his own standard of quality he would have to do it himself.

“Basically, the idea is when you buy something from us, I want it to be just like Grandma made it,” he said. “I make it from scratch. You’re not going to find any pre-made anything on our shelves.”

Morse means this literally. His prepared foods are made from recipes passed down through the family, starting with his great-great-grandmother, Marcia.

Macaroni and cheese, chicken pot pie, American chop suey and shepherd’s pie are popular dinners. Banana bread and whoopie pies are specialties and every Wednesday he bakes fruit pies, with flavors varying week-to-week.

Fresh produce is the centerpiece of Crestholm Farm Stand in Oxford. The store is open daily 9 a.m.-6 p.m. from May-October. (Courtesy Shawn Morse)

Across the road, Hall continues to tend close to three acres of produce and flowers. Cut flowers are a big customer draw to the farm stand and not just during business hours. There have been enough instances of nighttime flower pillaging that he needed to install an electrified fence system around the road-facing garden perimeter.

“People would stop to take pictures of the flowers and just help themselves,” Hall said. “You know, a lot of people, they don’t give a (hoot) if I’m growing vegetables. They want to know where the flowers are.”

When he first forayed into flower retailing Hall did not have high expectations. Now he can barely keep up. “The first year he did hanging baskets, he made 30 and didn’t think they’d ever sell,” Morse quipped. “Now he does over 1,100, and we sold out this year.”

Hall still has a commercial flock of 1,100 laying hens, supplying the family farm stand as well as local markets like Smedberg’s in Oxford, Cooper Farms in West Paris and Bethel Provisions.

For fun, he raises sheep and goats, a hobby he says the laying hens pay for. His milking goats are mostly for the pleasure of raising kids, but he gets dual production (fiber and meat) from his sheep herd.

Customers can find other farm-style merchandise at the farm stand. In the attached growing shed there is locally made Adirondack furniture, custom design notebooks, cribbage boards and birdhouses, sold by consignment for local craftspeople.

With the shift to cooler weather, the farm stand features hardy mums for sale in many colors, as well as fall-bloom cut flower arrangements and pumpkins.

Crestholm Farm Stand on Main Street/Route 26 is open daily from 9 a.m.-6 p.m., from May through the end of October.