Patterson Farm is a 234-acre township-owned property located between I-295 and Mirror Lake Road – a key entrance to the township from the interstate. It is one of the most photographed sites of Lower Makefield.
Lower Makefield Township paid $7.2 million in 1998 to purchase the land as open space from Tom and Alice Patterson. A year later a Bucks County Municipal Open Space easement was granted on 71 acres of the site. In 2004 PennDOT condemned 7.57 acres of the farm for construction of the I-95/332 off-ramp. The Board of Supervisors voted in October 2016 to grant an agricultural conservation easement to Bucks County over additional lands, for a total of 183 acres of preserved farmland. Currently Sam Stewart of Charlann Farms tills 173 acres of farmland under a lease with the township.
Patterson Farm includes the historic Janney-Brown Farmstead that contains a Georgian-style stone house, stone/frame cottage, bank barn and 6 outbuildings. The non-profit Artists of Yardley (AOY), an art center that has over 100 artists in a full spectrum of disciplines, leases the stone house from the township and offers art classes, camps, exhibits and shows.
Patterson Farm also includes the 5.6-acre Satterthwaite Farmstead that contains a Federal-style frame house, bank barn and 4 outbuildings. A portion of this parcel is used for mulching leaves that are collected by the township.
