Our History

As an Erie Canal farm, Riverview Orchards has been in agriculture for 200 years. In the early 1800's the area along the Mohawk River became dotted with small Dutch farms, some of which are still active today. Conservation of agriculture and open space are very important to Isabel, who is involved in the Open Space, Trails and Riverfront Committee, the Ag Protection Plan, and Historic Grooms Tavern 

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The Van der Heyden family spread out from Troy, New York claiming lands along the Mohawk including Riverview Orchards.  Purchasing the land from the Higbes in 1820, the Van der Heydens eventually married into the Leversee family, and the farm was passed down through that line until the Barretts, the current owners, purchased it in 1944.  During the last 200 years, the farm has been owned by only two families.

 

Our old and stately Red Beech tree grows proudly near Riverview Road and has seen the Erie and Barge Canals come and go, as well as the establishment of the hamlets of Vischer Ferry and Rexford.  It has seen the advent of automobiles, the installation of electric light poles in the 1930's, and the development of the Town of Clifton Park with a ballooning of the population. Isabel Barrett Prescott grew up here and took over the farm when her father retired in 1984.  In 2006 her family completed a Purchase of Development Rights with the Town of Clifton Park so that Riverview Orchards will stay in agriculture indefinitely.  Currently, three generations of Isabel's family live on the farm.