In the early years of Huron Township, Huron Avery Road was mainly farmland. Several houses have been built alongside the farmhouses and the development Songwood Reserve was built on property once owned and farmed by the Wilcox family. Huron Avery Road connects Huron with Avery, which is an unincorporated community in western Milan Township. Avery was formerly known as Spears Corners. (Video: Bob Jones of Chef's Garden, 2007)
J. Stewart McDonald was born in Huron December 14, 1852. His father had bought a tract of land south of Huron on Huron Avery Road in 1857, where he built a house and started farming. J. Stewart inherited the 162-acre estate from his father and was a highly successful fruit and vegetable farmer. The farm passed to his daughter, Helen, who sold the house and land in the 1970s.Fred Washburn, a native of Milan, purchased the Henry and Louise (Shook) Halladay farm on Huron Avery Road in 1905. Halladay, who died in 1899, had come to Huron Township with his parents in 1834 when he was two years old. Mrs. Halladay was the daughter of Capt. John Shook, a captain and builder of Great Lake ships. The farm comprised about 250 acres, with 50 acres of woods. The homestead’s name,Twin Poplars Farm, originated from the two large poplars standing in the house’s front yard. Fred and his wife, Emma Heimburger, had four children. Their son Walter took over the farm when Fred died in 1908. Walter married Edith Montague, who was the daughter of Capt. Charles Montague, a well-known captain on the Great Lakes. Their son Charles continued farming the property after Walter’s death in addition to working for the state of Ohio. Charles and his wife, Miriam Wolcott Washburn, had four sons, David, Rollie, Keith and Carl. The farm was recently sold to John Rockwell, who also farms in Milan Township.Claude Wilcox moved to Huron Township from Vestal, New York in 1928. He bought farmland on both sides of Huron-Avery Road and built a farmhouse and barns on the east side of the road. Claude married Ruth Hamer and they had three children, Norman, Wesley and Carol. Wesley, who married Mary Jane Nash of Norwalk, bought his father-in-law’s customized mattress and re-stuffing business in 1955 and relocated it to a barn on his father’s farm. Claude died in 1978 and the family donated 22 acres of the east part of the farm to the Huron Township Conservation Club and sold the west side to Jim Foor of Peridia Homes, who developed Songwood Reserve in the late 1990s.Located on Huron-Avery Road the Chef’s Garden has been providing chefs and restaurants throughout the world with specialty vegetables for over 35 years. The company, which uses regenerative agricultural techniques to grow its vegetables, was started by Bob and Barb Jones and their sons, Lee and Bob Jr. In 1998 Bob Sr. founded the Culinary Vegetable Institute (CVI), a culinary center where chef and farmer can collaborate to explore, create and inspire each other. CVI allows the chef to step away from the restaurant atmosphere to a rural retreat to forge a connection with the land on which the products they use are grown and the farmer who grows them.
Back
Play Video
Stop Video
Back to Topic Choices