Clemmons Family Farm

The Clemmons Family Farm is one of the largest African American owned farms in Vermont. Purchased by Lydia and Dr. Jack Clemmons in 1962, the farm spans six historical buildings, a residential house, and 128 acres of farmland, forests, and ponds. As one of 22 official landmarks on Vermont’s African American Heritage Trail, this farm is a site of living history.

But the risk of losing Black historical and cultural sites like the Clemmons Family Farm—and the aging generation that holds the stories about these sites—is very real. Rather than selling the property as the landowners approached their 100th birthday, the Clemmons family decided to preserve its rich history as a Black arts and cultural center, not only for the Vermont community, but for the entire country. This farm’s story is one of persistence, commitment, and innovation and needs to be protected forever.

Today, less than half of one percent (0.4 percent) of farms in the United States are African American-owned and only 3 percent of sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places focus on the experiences of Black Americans. And according to the 2017 United States agriculture census, of the nearly 7,000 farms in Vermont, only 17 were African American–owned.

Through Trust for Public Land’s Black History and Culture program, we helped safeguard the Clemmons Family Farm Black Arts and Culture Center, supporting the transfer of the privately Black-owned Clemmons farm to the Black-led Clemmons Family Farm, Inc.—a nonprofit 501c3 with the mission to preserve, empower, and build black history and cultural stewards.

The Clemmons Family Farm Black Arts and Culture Center will continue to honor the family’s legacy in the community and serve as a platform for Black arts, culture, and farming as it celebrates Black heritage—understanding the past, shaping the present, and investing in the future.