Hutson Farm

This photo shows the original barn, built around 1898. The tree is a butternut (almost as old) grown with a nut from a cousin’s tree in Paris, Ontario.

The Hutson farm is on Lot 12, Concession A & B, Widdifield Township.

It was established by William Henry Overholt in 1907. Later it was taken over by his daughter Mary and her husband, Robert C. Hutson.  

The main source of revenue was a 24 head dairy herd, with the milk sold to Silverwood and Sunrise dairies in North Bay, and the cream to a creamery for butter production. But Robert Hutson also conducted a door-to-door business selling chickens, eggs and market produce to the doctors and lawyers coming out on the weekends to their cottages on Anita Avenue and Silverlady Lane.

Like many post-Second World War farmers, Robert had an “outside” job at Craig Bit in North Bay. This enabled him to buy, in one year (1950), a new car, a 1949 Ford tractor, and a tiny cottage on Trout Lake. The family had to cut 100 cords of wood to pay off this spending spree.

Memories of… Women On The Farm
“My mother created a small business to raise extra money. During the winter, she offered Sunday dinner to cross-country skiers. The skiers took the train to Mile Ten, then skied up to our farm on Tower Drive, had dinner, and continued on to the ski chalet. She could feed up to 52 skiers a day (the table held 18). The skiers got home-grown meat, potatoes and veg, with home-made bread and a slice of pie. All for a dollar.”

— Bob Hutson