History of Bellemeade Farm
We are a working dairy and sheep farm situated in Mabou, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.
Bellemeade Farm has been a family farm since 1805, and was founded by Sergeant Alexander MacNeil of Barra Scotland, who immigrated during the Highland Clearances. In earlier times, the Sergeant MacNeil Farm was well-known for its water-powered sawmill, and its many ponds, which supplied the village of Mabou with ice. The ice blocks were cut during the winter months, and stored in the icehouse, buried in sawdust. As mixed farming was a general practice at that time, this farm kept cows, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens, and a small forge.
David and Catharina Lake-Thompson took over the farm in 1984, continuing the farming legacy begun by the MacNeils. Now in its eighth year of operation, the Bellemeade Farm Shoppe was built as an outlet for the handcrafts and wool products created on the farm.
Bellemeade Farm has been a family farm since 1805, and was founded by Sergeant Alexander MacNeil of Barra Scotland, who immigrated during the Highland Clearances. In earlier times, the Sergeant MacNeil Farm was well-known for its water-powered sawmill, and its many ponds, which supplied the village of Mabou with ice. The ice blocks were cut during the winter months, and stored in the icehouse, buried in sawdust. As mixed farming was a general practice at that time, this farm kept cows, sheep, pigs, horses, chickens, and a small forge.
David and Catharina Lake-Thompson took over the farm in 1984, continuing the farming legacy begun by the MacNeils. Now in its eighth year of operation, the Bellemeade Farm Shoppe was built as an outlet for the handcrafts and wool products created on the farm.