By the early 1950s, there were so many thousands of farmers and sightseers drawn to Malabar Farm to witness the revival of worn out soil, that it seemed a shame not to send them home with some nutritious sample of the farm’s fabled fertility.
Louis Bromfield, the author and farmer who developed and wrote about the farm, wanted to share the wealth of what he had learned about growing healthy food; so he commissioned his architect to draw up plans for a suitable roadside produce stand.
The architect, Louis Lamoreaux, understood the importance of integrating the marketplace site into the Americana theme of Malabar’s Big House; so he drew it with graceful arching lines to compliment the Greek Revival style of Malabar.
Both Bromfield and Lamoreaux recognized they were creating a landmark which would serve the community as more than a simple produce market: it would invoke a timeless—almost mythic—experience of contact with the Earth through essential elements of water, stone, cool air, and living food.
How well they succeeded is easily ascertained: there are folks raised here who have been away from Richland County for 50 years, who tell me what they miss most—what they dream about sometimes—is drinking from the living spring that bubbles up through the vegetable stand at Malabar.
