The roots of Emmons Farms go deep into local history. The oldest documented land purchase in this area by a family member dates back to 1799. Carleton Emmons and his wife, Maria Fairchild Emmons were descended from early settlers in the Cooperstown/Oneonta area. Maria´s grandfather, Abijah Fairchild, moved to Cooperstown immediately after the Revolutionary War, when the settlement was described as a wilderness with Fenimore Cooper and one or two other families being the only residents. Both Abijah and Maria`s father, William, purchased considerable land first along Oaks Creek and then into the Oneonta area (then still part of Unadilla).

Carleton`s father, Asa Emmons, came to Harperfield (Delaware County) in the late 1700`s. While there he married Eunice Prentice and, at the turn of the century, moved to Oneonta buying several hundred acres of timberland along the Susquehanna. When Carleton´s father died, his mother, Eunice, remarried the recently widowed William Fairchild, father of Carleton´s future wife, Maria. Step parents thus became parents-in-law.

In 1837, William Fairchild bought about 130 acres on the North side of the Susquehanna in what was then the Sir William Johnson Patent. The deed for this tract excludes one acre of land purchased by Carleton Emmons in 1835. These lands comprised much of what is now the shopping center and the now gone Del-Sego drive-in movie theater along the south side of NY route 7, across from the Farmhouse.

One of Carleton´s first business ventures was the building of a public house, known as the Emmons Tavern, which stood from 1840 until it burned in 1880. For the first 16 years, Carleton lived in and operated the house. By 1865, however, he and his wife Maris had built a house on the hillside across the road and planted a row of locust trees in front. This house, the present Farmhouse, served as a center of an expanding farm which eventually reached close to 700 acres. The farm was his life, and his final words “don´t sacrifice my farm” have echoed down through generations of his descendents.

When Carleton died, ownership of the farm passed to his son Delos and daughter Roxa, though the farm was actually managed by the housekeeper, Phoebe Enos, who was such an ardent user of Lydia Pinkham´s Pills for Pale People that her picture was used in their advertising in return for a lifelong supply of the pills.

Eventually the farm was purchased by Roxa´s son-in-law, Kendrick Ebenezer Morgan. Though he and his wife Amanda, and their family resided in Chicago, Kendrick took great interest in the farm and began to expand it, starting in 1901 by building a large three-level barn, followed by another barn, a granary, two cellars, and six chicken houses. In the early 1900´s, Kendrick had the original Farmhouse moved to its present location, adding bathrooms in the process. In 1906, the present English stucco and wood house was built on the original Farmhouse site. After this came a carriage house, then a rose garden, a formal garden, a tea garden, a Spanish garden, and a Japanese garden. A reservoir was built to provide water for the gardens. During the time of Kendrick´s proprietorship, an annual garden party was given “with golden lanterns strung though the trees and Italian mandolin players strolling about”. Peacocks and pheasants added color and great-horned owls and alligators in the greenhouse added interest. While many kinds of farming were tried, chickens became the most successful venture and such radical techniques as use of electric lights to extend the hens´ day were employed. When Kendrick died in 1918, ownership of Emmons Farms passed to his wife, Amanda. In 1929, she built a home for her daughter Mary (by then twice widowed and with four children) next to the main house in a woodchuck infested field: thus the name of the house, Woodchuck Knoll. In 1939, the large barn, stables (with carriages), a chicken house full of chickens, and parts of other buildings burned to the ground in what must have been one of the biggest fires the area had seen. In recent years, a fire drill has become a tradition. Held in the fall of the year, the old fire bell is rung, the hand drawn fire wagon is brought out of storage and all of the residents of Emmons Farms participate in this, now largely social, event. In recent years, Emmons Farms, under the direction of Amanda´s daughter Dr. Mary Morgan Haupt Lee Street has developed into some of the most inviting rental property in the area. The Residence (Amanda´s former home), the Carriage House and the Granary now contain apartments while the Cellar, the Greenhouse, the Feed House as well as the Single and Double House are now cottages. The land south of NY route 7 has been developed commercially with the Price Chopper Plaza, the NBT bank, and the Oneonta Sports Park. The family has, through diligence and some difficult years, abided by Carleton´s last request: Emmons Farms has remained intact and under family ownership for more than 180 years.