The farm was originally called White Birches farm, managed by Kate Sleeper and her husband Arthur Walden. Kate Sleeper (1862 – 1949) was a remarkable woman who, in the late 19th century, opened an inn in Birch Intervale (later renamed to Wonalancet). She bought a 600 acre farm which was the property of the early settler Theophilous Brown. She established Birches Intervale Farm and Wonalancet as prime vacation destinations.
Arthur Treadwell Walden (1871 – 1947) was a Klondike Gold Rush adventurer, dog driver and participant in the first Byrd Antarctic Expedition. He is also known as an author and developer of the Chinook sled dog breed.
In the 1930s, the farm was sold to Mr. Collins who ran it as a dairy farm. He sold the farm to his step-son Justin Brand who sold it to Whip Farnum. Whip owned it after WW II and ran it as a dairy and horse farm.
Helen Steele’s father, Richard Read, bought it in the 50’s to keep it from being sold for development. Helen, who had been farming it since 1969, bought the farm in the 1980s and has run it as a sheep and hay farm since. In 2023 the Meissner family became the next stewards of the land.
