The property became Wenzel property in 1863 when Henry and Salome Wenzel moved there from New York in 1863. The pair, who’d married in Germany, moved to Warren County with six children in tow.

It was no random happenstance they wound up on Dutch Hill.

As the name of the road suggests, it was a place where 15 other German families had settled in the late 1800s in Warren County. Henry built the original barn in 1884.

The farm has been passed down through Henry’s and Salome’s children, including Michael Wenzel, who ran the farm until his death in 1923, followed by Harry, who did the same until 1973, when the farm transitioned from a subsistence and small-scale operation to the large producer for Warren County that it is today.

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross The trees throughout the property tell the story of the family that’s lived there for over 150 years, including this birch which was planted in 1940 after a trip to Quebec.

Harry’s son, Richard Wenzel, took over the farm in 1975, expanding the pick-your-own operations for which the Wenzel name is known, to different areas around the region.

At different points, Wenzel’s pick-your-own strawberries have been found on Valentine Run, Jackson Run, Dutch Hill, and Hatch Run Roads. It was in 2014 that Richard’s son Scott Wenzel, the current owner-operator of the historic business, moved from Hatch Run back up to the family’s homestead on Dutch Hill.

Scott wasn’t sure what the sales would look like being out of town again, but he was content to sit on his porch and watch a few people “straggle in here and there.”

The opposite has happened, with the customers who’ve followed the strawberries throughout the region for generations following them right back to Dutch Hill, along with all of the other offerings Wenzel’s puts up each year.

The farmhouse serves as the base of operations, where sales are made, but the farm itself raises over 100 head of beef cattle — mostly black Angus, and dozens of pigs for pork along with beef orders, which are taken throughout the year for butchering in the spring.

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross The Old Wenzel Farms has produce for all seasons, including pumpkins, strawberries, corn, and Christmas trees.

All of the cattle and hogs on the farm are grain-fed, said Wenzel, and the chickens he keeps at his home in Lander are similarly down-home, producing the brown eggs that are sold at the farm.

Wenzel’s offers ongoing seasonal crops each year, with corn just about passing out of season at this point due to the hot temperatures of this past summer, but with squash, pumpkins, and mums among other fall favorites just starting to roll in. After Thanksgiving, Wenzel said the farm will begin its Christmas tree sales.

“You can come and mark and cut your own Christmas tree,” he said.

The farm is open from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and is closed on Sundays.

The Old Wenzel Farms is located at 2045 Dutch Hill Road, just a few miles off Jackson Run Road in North Warren.

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross The Old Wenzel Farms is located at 2045 Dutch Hill Road in Conewango Township, just a few miles from Jackson Run Road in North Warren.

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross The Old Wenzel Farms takes orders for beef and pork products.

Times Observer photo by Stacey Gross The Old Wenzel Farms reflects the spirit of the community in which it sits.