Smiling Hill Farm
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 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Agriculture, Food Processing |
| Founded | 1720 |
| Headquarters | Westbrook, Maine, USA |
Key people | Warren R. Knight - President |
| Products | Milk, Ice Cream, Cheese |
Number of employees | 17 |
| Website | www.smilinghill.com |
Smiling Hill Farm is a 500 acre[1] traditional New England farm encompassing parts of the municipalities of Westbrook, Scarborough, and Gorham, Maine. Founded in 1720 as the homestead of Nathaniel Knight, the 12th-generation descendants continue to operate the farm today. Known as the "Knight Farm", the farm was renamed "Smiling Hill Farm" by Roger D. Knight in 1974. Roger named the farm after a favorite childhood book, "Smiling Hill Farm" by Miriam E. Mason (1937).[2] Smiling Hill Farm is known for its characteristic smiling cow logo. According to Family Business magazine, Smiling Hill Farm is the 9th oldest continually operating family business in the United States.[3]
Smiling Hill Farm was founded in the 1720s[4] as the home of the Knight family. The Knights had been in Scarborough since the mid-1600s starting with George Knight d.1671. Following George's early death, his widow left the family's land holdings in the Dunstan region of Scarborough for the relative safety of Portsmouth, NH, with her two young children, Mary and Nathan. Nathan Knight married Mary Westbrook and returned to Scarborough in the late 1600s with his brother-in-law, Col. Thomas Westbrook. Col. Thomas Westbrook's gravesite is located on the Scarborough portion of the property.[5] Col. Westbrook was the uncle of Nathaniel Knight who was the first Knight to occupy the area now known as Smiling Hill Farm.