Exploring a Hochfeld Housebarn Site (East Reserve) with Jackie

This past June, I was taking part in the MHV’s annual Tractor Trek, which makes various stops for coffee throughout the countryside. The first stop had been a farm that backed onto what I knew as Hochfeld. Today it is a field of course, but there is a fabulously mysterious cemetery in that field… and rumour long-forgotten remnants of a village in the woods just behind it. I figured surely the owner of this land must be milling about having coffee.

I didn’t have to look far before I met Jackie, who was very busy serving cinnamon buns. She gave me her number and told me to call her in a week or so.

Being me, I promptly lost the number. But finally last month I set my mind to finding Jackie’s phone number and I immediately called her up. And thus we set a date for her to show me what remained of Hochfeld.

I arrived the next day, and she showed me my ride:

I was to get into the trailer. I was immediately delighted. This day was turning out to be awesome!

She drove deep onto property that her nephew currently owns, and then we walked. She showed me the site of her grandparents’ housebarn, which was probably torn down in the 1950s:

The housebarn had been substantial and its grooves remain on the land, a subtle reminder of what had once stood here.

To make the memory of what once stood here a little more official, there’s also this: a Century Farm Award!

In my heart, I feel as if I had grown up on a century farm, but that is simply not the truth. However, I deeply respect those who have kept these farms in their families. I think it is probably becoming more and more difficult to do so, all the time.

Now, the story does not end here. Jackie and I had a great adventure. I’ll tell you about it next week!

(Feature photo is of Jackie’s parents, newlyweds on the farm site.)

Related posts: 

A 2020 Tractor Trek Photo Diary

Magic Hour in Hochfeld Cemetery

The Desolate Cemetery of Hochfeld, East Reserve