The Leavitt family began farming raising crops near Gabriels in 1888, when Lyman Leavitt moved from Bloomingdale to Gabriels. However, the deed for the farm was not registered until 1890, because that would have meant a trip to Malone, and they were busy getting a house and a barn built.
His son, Arthur, after having taken ''short courses'' at Cornell University, farmed there with him, raising crops. Potatoes, and seed potatoes in particular, were what was grown, with there being only enough livestock to meet the needs of farming (work horses) and the family (a milk cow and a beef cow). In 1937, Arthur purchased a large barn from the Rockefellers at Bay Pond, and dismantled it, and brought it to Gabriels. He also bought a small barn, did the same with it, and put it up in Gabriels that same year. He used the small barn to store the pieces of the much larger barn over the winter and then, in 1938, erected what became knows as The Big Barn. Due to an error, the 40-foot long beams were switched. However, it was discovered that they were interchangeable, when it was noted that the holes which had been bored were identical.
Later, when William, Arthur's son, completed his education at Cornell University, he joined in farming with his father. William married Lenore Newell from Keeses Mills (daughter of Pauline and Harold Newell), who studied to become a teacher at Plattsburgh Normal School. She was a substitute teacher for some of the local schools, with the usual duty of building the fire in the woodstove. William and Lenore had three boys, Robert, Arthur and David. For a short period of time, all three sons farmed there in Gabriels. David left to teach and then do administrative work in the New York State Dept. of Corrections. Bob and his wife, Mary Lou, left to start their own farm up north in Churubusco. Arthur remained on the farm, but did not raise potatoes. Some other crops have been grown recently (since 1998), and some fields rented to Ralph Child of Malone, to grow potatoes. Scott Leavitt, Arthur's son, and Jeff Leavitt, Bob's son, live on the farm also.
Information provided by Mary Lou Leavitt, 2014.
Plattsburgh Press Republican, June 28, 1986
400-acre potato farm thrives in midst of the Adirondacks
GABRIELS — Smack in the middle of the Adirondack forest — along route 192 northwest of Saranac Lake — is a sprawling potato farm.
This is no "back to nature" experimental cooperative, but a 400-acre commercial farm graced with expansive vistas, three modern farmhouses, spacious storage barns and a stable of over-sized tractors, discers, planters and harvesters.
"Established 1890" the sign reads, and William Leavitt, whose eldest sons, Robert, 39, and Arthur, 37, now run the farm, reckons that's about right.
Most of the family stopped work long enough recently for a family portrait near the sign: Bill and Lenore Leavitt, eldest son, Robert and his wife, Mary Lou; Art Leavitt's wife, Eileen, and Leavitt children — Robert and Mary Lou's children are Jeff, John and Sue; Art and Eileen's are Scott, Tim and Jenny. The elder Leavitts have a third married son, David, who is employed as an educator with the New York Department of Corrections.
"My grandfather, Lyman Leavitt, bought 32 acres here in 1890," William Leavitt says. "Emmigrated from Bloomingdale," he adds with a trace of a smile. Bloomingdale, then a growing community but now a sleepy hamlet, lies just four miles to the east. (The elder Leavitt had also farmed in the Port Douglas area on Lake Champlain before heading into the mountains, too long ago for anyone to remember why.)
Lyman Leavitt's new farm was right in the middle of a pocket of good agricultural soil — a rarity in the mostly too-sandy or too-rocky Adirondacks. While most of the surrounding farms of the time maintained small dairy herds, Leavitt planted potatoes.
Lyman's elder son, Arthur (William's father), was a forward-looking man who expanded the farm, invested in modern machinery as it became available and, in the 20s, helped develop the market for certified seed potatoes.
The shift from growing potatoes for table use to growing high grade, disease-resistant stock for sale to downstate table stock growers, was a serendipitous one. The isolation, short growing season and severe winters that make the Adirondacks generally unfriendly to agriculture help protect the crop from the many diseases that plague potato growers in milder climates and more intensively cultivated regions.
Bill Leavitt, Arthur's only son, further extended and mechanized the operation, with the help of his wife, Lenore Newell Leavitt. In 1956 he went to direct, bulk harvesting, which eliminated an enormous amount of back-breaking labor. Now a mechanical harvester crawls through the fields in the fall, digging potatoes and moving them along a conveyor belt where workers discard rocks and damaged tubers before the harvest is spilled into a huge box on the back of a truck.
Planting, fertilizing, spraying, storage and distribution are similarly mechanized and done in bulk. The huge storages are filled with loose potatoes and kept at 38 degrees, while the crop is shipped out during the winter and spring months to fill orders from farms up and down the east coast.
The family used to propagate its own seed stock. But the Leavitts, a few nearby potato farms and 17 other certified seed potato growers in New York state now buy starter stock from Cornell University's Uihlein farm in Lake Placid.
Despite the unpredictability of weather and some recent, tough competition from subsidized Canadian seed potato producers, things look good for a fifth generation of Leavitts. Young Scott, 14, Art's eldest son, and Jeff, 10, Bob's eldest son, help around the farm and so far think they'd like to continue the family tradition.
Their grandfather says he would advise them to be progressive, but conservative in their management, and to follow what he considers sound folk wisdom when it comes to farming innovations: "Don't be the first to buy the new, nor the last to lay the old aside."
Adirondack Daily Enterprise November 18, 1990
Brighton News:
This marks the 100-year anniversary of Leavitt Farms, located in Brighton. Your correspondent recently received a very condensed version of the history of the farm by a person considered to be close to the farm itself, Lenore Leavitt, wife of Bill Leavitt, now retired from the farm.
In the spring of 1890, Lyman and Ada Jenkins Leavitt moved from Bloomingdale to Gabriels and purchased 30 acres of farmland. The original tract was located on the west side of the road where the yellow house is now. Lyman grew up to 10 acres of potatoes which were planted and harvested by hand.
Their son, Arthur, bought additional acreage across the road and in 1915 married Eleanor McMaster from Forest Home. He gradually increased the potato acreage and expanded into the New York State Certified Seed program, which was just being organized in connection with Cornell University.
Arthur and Eleanor had two children, William and Eleanor. William joined his father in the seed potato business in 1939 and they continued to increase the acreage Eleanor is semi-retired from the Paul Smith's College Library.
In 1943, William married Lenore Newell of Paul Smiths. They had three sons — Robert, Arthur and David. Robert and Arthur returned to the farm after finishing school. David entered the education field.
In 1970, Arthur married Eileen Patterson of Groton. They have three children. Also in 1970, the farm business was incorporated to include Robert and Arthur with their father. William is now retired and Robert and Arthur manage the farm They grow certified and foundation seed potatoes which are shipped to northern New York, Florida and points in between.
In 1973, Robert married Marylou Hardwich of Syracuse. They have four children. In 1978, David married Marybeth Fox of Long Island. They now live in Glenmont and have two daughters. In 1984, Robert and Arthur bought the David Young farm to add to their acreage The children of Robert and Arthur are the fifth generation to work on the farm
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