WILMINGTON- Vermont and the Deerfield Valley will lose one of its premier attractions next month, when Adams Farm closes its doors permanently.

Jill Adams Mancivalano says this summer’s rainy weather, combined with the downturn in the economy, dealt a double-whammy to her business. Early this spring, she applied for a short-term business loan to provide working capital for the season. At the time, the credit markets were tight, and the bank wasn’t ready to lend until July. By then, the region was in the depths of one of the rainiest summers on record. The few people who did visit the farm were watching their pennies. “People’s spending habits have definitely changed,” she says. “People used to come to the farm and parents would buy stuffed animals and toys. Now it’s a five-cent candy stick. This summer we struggled just to meet payroll.”

Mancivalano says she was forced to re-evaluate whether the business could meet her ultimate goal of purchasing the family farm and creating a farm-stay bed and breakfast.

“Even if I had enough money to get through the financial crisis, then struggled another three years to buy the farm, and spent another two years building (the B&B), I would be 50 and the business would just be getting off the ground.”

But Mancivalano says she has also been caught in a financial Catch-22. She needs financing to expand the business so it won’t be as weather-dependent, and to provide enough reliable income to support her purchase of the farm. But financial institutions won’t lend her money for substantial capital improvements to property that she doesn’t own. Mancivalano say the business is viable, and has provided her and her family with a living but, faced with an uncertain future and what appears to be insurmountable odds, she’s throwing in the towel.

Mancivalano’s parents, Bill and Sharon Adams, have invested their life’s work in the farm and, without the income from the sale of the farm, they won’t be able to retire. For now, they’ll continue to offer their popular sleigh rides, but Mancivalano says they’re planning to put the farm up for sale in the near future.

The family has owned the farm since 1865. Mancivalano’s great-great-grandparents, Henry and Sarah Adams, bought the place after the end of the Civil War, when Vermonters were leaving for “greener pastures” in the newly opened western territories. But Henry and Sarah weren’t newcomers to the area – three generations of the family had lived just across the street from the farm. In fact, Mancivalano can trace her roots back to Medad Smith, one of Wilmington’s earliest settlers. Mancivalano’s daughters, Olivia and Charlotte, are ninth-generation “Wilmingtonians.”

“Great-great-grandfather Henry purchased the farm for its ability to produce short growth timber,” Mancivalano says.

Henry Adams also invented and produced, with his friend CC Haynes, a wooden “liquid holder.” Their patented liquid holder was a tank that was offered in a variety of sizes. The tanks could be used for anything from collecting maple sap to storing rainwater for steam engines. The liquid holders were produced on the farm from the 1870s until the 1940s and sold throughout the region. Many old sugarhouses in the valley still use an Adams and Haynes patented liquid holder to store or gather sap.

Adams Farm has a long history of providing hospitality to visitors. By the 1880s, a railroad served the Deerfield Valley, and visitors from urban centers on the East Coast flocked to the cool mountains during the summer. When Henry Adams retired from farming, his son Walter Adams took over the farm. He and his wife Ada opened the farm to visitors. “There were few hotels at the time and a lot of farmhouses opened their doors to tourists,” Mancivalano says. “My family opened their doors to the people coming in from the city, giving them a chance to taste farm fresh food and enjoy the fresh air. Agritourism is nothing new, it just has a name now.”

When Walter’s son Louis and his wife Doris, Mancivalano’s grandparents, took over the farm they expanded the business and, after World War II, they focused on dairy production. But the farm continued to take in summer guests. “Once the ski area opened, my grandmother decided to take in skiers, as well,” Mancivalano says.

Bill and Sharon Adams purchased the farm in the 1970s. They closed the farm to the public and concentrated on dairy farming. “My father’s goal was to expand dairy production and breed his cows to be supercows,” Mancivalano says.

But by the mid-1980s, demand for milk was down and Adams’ parents purchased two draft horses and began to offer sleigh rides to supplement their income.

In 1986, the federal government determined that 30% of milk production was surplus. Rather than continue milk subsidies, the Reagan administration offered a buyout program. “Dad submitted a proposal and it was accepted,” Mancivalano says. “In 1986, my father was getting $18 per hundred-weight of milk, and estimated he was losing $100 per day. I’ll never forget what he said: ‘There must be easier ways to lose $100 per day.’”

Mancivalano’s involvement with the farm operation began in the 1990s when she met her husband, Carl Mancivalano. “He was so interested in all the old tools on the farm, the saw mill, and the woodworking shop,” she says. “He got involved in the draft horses and sleigh rides, and he saw how people ate it up. People have a real appreciation for the culture, the horses, and the dynamics of the farm.”

Carl Mancivalano offered a number of suggestions, such as adding horse-drawn wagon rides during the summer months. “My father said ‘Carl, if you want to do that, you go right ahead,’” Mancivalano recalls.

In 1993, Carl and Jill Mancivalano opened the farm year-round, adding not only summer horse-drawn wagon rides, but several annual family events, a barnful of kid-friendly animals, sheep, and dairy goats.

“I fell in love with the sheep,” Mancivalano says. “And I learned to spin yarn. It’s incredibly satisfying to raise an animal and take it to a finished product.”

In the beginning, Mancivalano’s business producing hand-painted tiles funded much of the farm business. In 1996 she closed her tile studio and began marketing the farm full-time.

Their business model and her marketing expertise grew the business exponentially. “We went from 6,000 people per year to 20,000 per year,” she recalls.

Mancivalano has been one of the state’s agritourism pioneers, and she has worked with Senator Patrick Leahy, (then) Congressman Bernie Sanders, and the Vermont Department of Agriculture to help create legislation to encourage and promote agritourism. She accompanied Leahy to Italy to learn about the country’s successful agritourism efforts, and brought that knowledge back to the state.

Along the way, Mancivalano has made room on her staff of 15 full- and part-time employees for family, and for local youth. Many lucky youngsters have gotten their start thanks to a summer job at the farm. “I’m so proud that we’ve been able to expose so many local kids to their agricultural heritage,” Mancivalano says.

Bill and Sharon Adams say they’re saddened by the news, but support their daughter’s decision. “We’re saddened by the closing, mainly because of all the years that Jill has put her heart and soul into it,” they said. “It was so important for her to continue this multigenerational farm for her and her daughters. We feel if this recession and the rainy summer hadn’t happened, perhaps it would have made all the difference in the outcome. We want to thank all of our loyal customers who have come here year after year.”

Adams Farm will close on October 31, and Mancivalano says she hopes local residents and visitors will take the opportunity to visit the farm one last time.

“The best thing about the experience has been the diversity of it all,” Mancivalano says. “Being able to work with animals, the gratification of being able to produce quality products from the animals in a way that doesn’t entail killing them, being creative with the marketing and retail, seeing kids’ faces light up when you put them on a pony, and being able to share this unique heritage with people.”