History
COA alumni Barbarina Heyerdahl '98 and her husband, Aaron Heyerdahl '97, founded and successfully operated Beech Hill Farm for 10 years. College of the Atlantic has owned Beech Hill Farm since 1999, when the Heyerdhal's donated the farm to the College. 

The Heyerdahl's granted a conservation easement on the property to Maine Coast Heritage Trust in May 1999.  The purpose of the easement is "to provide a significant public benefit by protecting and preserving the highly scenic and open views of and across the protected property enjoyed by the public from the Beech Hill Road; and to prevent the conversion of open lands on prime agricultural soils to development or other land uses that would limit their productivity and availability for agricultural uses in the future.”

Location, Facilities and other Characteristics
The 73-acre farm is located in the Town of Mount Desert at an elevation of 300 feet on a ridge of deep glacial till soils. The farm is unique on Mount Desert Island (MDI) because of the depth and quality of the soil. The fertility of the soil is partly the result of intensive poultry farming that took place on the site in the mid 1900's. There are eight field units under tillage that total of five acres of crop production.  Three of these acres are on rented land. There is an additional 12 acres of open land that includes two acres of heirloom apples in three small orchards.  The majority of the land is forested and consists of approximately 56 acres: 36 acres of mixed wood, 12 acres of hardwood, and 8 acres of softwood.

The facilities at Beech Hill farm include a ranch-style farmhouse, carriage barn with attached glasshouse and four unheated plastic greenhouses. The farm is also equipped with a packing shed, machine shop, drying room, office, and popular on-site farm stand.

Links
Newspaper article
MOFGA