History

Indigenous Roots

Indigenous stewards of the land here included the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians and the Odanak Abenaki Nation, whose deep connections are tied to this landscape as their ancestral homeland.

Settling Danby

The farms at Smokey House Center have a rich history and include the Harrington, Weatherby, Keeler, Herrick, Fisk, and Hilliard families. Captain Micah Vail was one of the five first settlers of Danby, playing a prominent role in the town's early political development, serving as moderator of the annual town meetings and originally settled a large part of Smokey House Center's main campus include the Herrick and Hilliard farms. 

Stephen & Audrey Currier

Stephen and Audrey Currier, philanthropists from New York City bought a small cottage and several tracts of land in Danby Four Corners. In the years that followed, the Curriers offered lucrative land buyouts to neighboring farms—an approach that was ahead of its time. Over time, these acquisitions grew to include the cottage and nearly 5,000 surrounding acres. After their passing in 1967 and at the couple's bequest, the land was given to the Taconic Foundation, an organization they had also established, though no specific use of the land was designated.

Smokey House Farm

After six years of thoughtful study, the board of the Foundation recommended “the development of a program to demonstrate principles of ecologically sound and environmentally productive land management, and to conduct programs that provide employment training for disadvantaged youth” at Smokey House Farm. The name "Smokey House" is thought to have come from a book the Curriers read to their children, Smoky House by Elizabeth Goudge, a children's fantasy novel set in the English West Country that follows the five Treguddick children as they become involved in smuggling and local mysteries, aided by talking animals and fairies.

YouthWorks & Smokey House Project

The YouthWork Program at Smokey House is launched, engaging local youth at risk of dropping out of school in paid work and learning through their participation in managing the vast land reserve year round. Core components of the thriving Smokey House design include: learning by doing real work; one adult crew leader for each six youth crew members; high expectations, no school/no work rule requires that young people stay in school to qualify; benchmarking of each young person’s individual progress.

Smokey House Center

Ownership of the farm property is transferred from the Taconic Foundation to the Smokey House. The Taconic board, a major funder of the Center up until this point, approves a $3 million endowment grant to the Smokey House and changes the name from "Smokey House Project" to "Smokey House Center".

Field Studies

In cooperation with Poultney High School, Smokey House inaugurates the Environmental Field Studies Program, providing a four-week intensive curriculum for eighth grade students at the Danby site, thereby diversifying its offerings to schools as interest and funding for off-site school programming starts to recede. The Field Studies program expands to other area schools and continues through 2010. Field Studies students and Smokey House staff monitor environmental health indicators, conduct species counts, and contribute to wildlife and natural resource databases in the region.

Conservation Easements

A conservation easement to New England Forestry Foundation is put in place on over 4000 acres of forest land, including 1500 acres of alpine forest and 2500 acres of lower elevation productive timberlands, providing permanent protection from development. An additional 600+ acres of active, productive farmland is put into easement in 2003, ensuring a permanent base for agricultural activities. This brings over 90% of the Center’s now 5,000 acres under permanent conservation restriction, with some remaining lands held out for potential future development.

Partner Farmers

Smokey House engages new small farm businesses -- Yoder Farm and Dorset Peak Sheep and Cattle Co. -- to manage hundreds of acres of working farmland. These relationships eventually lead to long term leases on Smokey House Center's agricultural lands. 

Tutorial Center Collaboration

Smokey House enters into a partnership with the Tutorial Center, a 42-year old educational support service focused on enhancing literacy, developing work readiness and promoting other basic skills of adults and children for them to run programming at the Center.

Community Farm

With the onset of the pandemic, the Community Farm project increases food production and distribution for hunger relief and other community food programs.

A New Beginning

Smokey House Center begins a new era as a living laboratory designed to trial practical climate adaptation strategies that help rural communities secure an abundant and resilient future. These land-based trials in ecological forestry, agroforestry, green building, and more exist as a platform for training the next generation of land stewards through dynamic youth programs.