Farm of George and Anna Belle Van Horn, as evidenced by the G.A Van Horn and son sign on the west side of the barn. He and his son Allen operated the dairy farm together until a few years before this picture was taken, and after both George and Anna Belles death. The farm is located on 40th Street south of Baseline road, and just south of Eagle lake. the original farm was approximately 168 acres, and every portion of it had a purpose, even if some of it was the swampy areas that stubborn cows went to calve and hide. The farm is in Bloomingdale Township, Bloomingdale MI, Van Buren County

I was born and raised here and have many fond memories. These photos are newer than the aerial photo that I have from the 50's. Dad put the name on the end of the barn at a later time when he had it painted. We never had money but never lacked for food or good times with church groups having many parties. Farming was a tough and dangerous life and I look back on some of the dumb tricks we played as kids and it is amazing that God let us survive. I'm glad he did.

I somehow missed this photo. My ex Paul bought this farm on land contract in late '86. I spent my weekends here from '86 to '90, when I finally moved there. We started dairying in September '91, with a small herd of Jersey/Guernsey crosses, and added a couple of Holsteins, plus a Holstein/Swiss shortly after. In the spring of '92, we bought a small herd of registered Jerseys, but then moved them to a tie stall barn in Paw Paw.

Roland, who had the dairy across the road, ended up with the farm not long after that. The land contract was up, and there would have been too much work to do on the house, barn, and the rest of the buildings. Our cows were already at another farm.

Sadly, the home and farm have been razed and nature has taken back the site, it's hard to even see where the driveway once was. The farm across the street that Jennifer refers to above is also gone, all that remains are the silos and one out building.