The 1800's
The current Kane Manor Farm sits on land once owned by the Robinson Family of nearby Liberty, Virginia. Due to a fire that destroyed many of the old Fauquier County records in Warrenton, we are unable to accurately determine the date the property changed hands to the Kane Family. However, It is believed that sometime before 1876, Davenport Thomas Kane (1816-1871) and his wife Eliza Jane Kerns (1824-1893) purchased several hundred acres between now Green Rd and Balls Mill Rd. They built their homestead upon a knoll which has since been replaced with a Machine Shed. In 1871, Davenport Kane caught pneumonia and died, leaving his estate to split up the farm amongst his many children. One of his sons, Alexander Davenport Kane, inherited roughly 72 acres and built the current house at 10195 Green Rd in 1876 . He farmed there with his wife, Margaret Susan Heflin, and his three children (Robert Louis, Eppa Davenport, and Helen Margaret).
The 1900's
After his death in 1922, Margaret Kane continued to live at the farmstead for a short time; however, eventually moved to Alexandria in the 1930s to be close to her children and help one of raise her grandsons, Scott Humphrey. When school was out in the summers, Scott would take the train out from Alexandria to help Mr. Strickler (a tenant-farmer) look after his crops and the farm. After graduating college and serving in the U.S. Army, Scott returned to Alexandria, but always had an eye on the farm. In the 1960s, he bought out his mother's and uncles' interest in the 72 acre farmstead. In 1972, he bought his first bunch of registered Hereford Cows. He then spent the next 6 decades growing his Purebred Polled Hereford Herd and reclaiming much of the land that was originally sold off by his great-grandfather's estate in 1876.
The 2000's
Today, Kane Manor Farm boasts a strong cow-calf operation with about 175 beautiful Polled Hereford Cows, 4 Registered Black Angus Bulls and 2 Registered Hereford Bulls. Angus are crossed on the Herefords to create the "Black Baldy", a breed with strong hybrid vigor. Ron Staples, a Fauquier Native himself, oversees all Livestock and Farm Operations. After weaning our calves, we take them up to nearby Twin Mountain Farm in Northeast WV to grow and be sold as feeder yearlings.