Friday, August 31, 2007

Goodbye Brighton Farms

SOLD

Brighton Farms was established by the Off Family. It was an Orchid farm here in Linwood. It has an interesting history. Lou Off passed away a few years ago and the family has sold the Brighton Farm property which consisted of about a dozen greenhouses lining Shore Road in Linwood. McMansions will fill the void...YUCK. It's heartbreaking to see such a lovely piece of Linwood history be torn to rubble. While I can't judge the family's financial need to do such a thing, it's still so very sad to see the character of my home town slowly dissapear. One consolation is that Waldor Orchids will remain. Waldor was established when a split occured between the Off brothers in the 50s. It consists of several large greenhouses adjascent to the Brighton Property. I buy orchid plants frequently from Waldor, both for business and personal use. It's a wonderful place to visit.
Brighton sold cut orchids; primarliy Cattleyas I think. They delivered all over the greater northeast extension...NYC, Philadelphia etc. Anyway you can read the history with the link I've provided. I picked up this brick from the rubble of the greenhouses as a memento. I didn't have a Cattlelaya orchid, so these two green cymbidiums had to do for the orchid reference. 8x10 oil/canvas.

2 comments:

Jo Castillo said...

Great way to remember the orchids. Lovely painting.
Jo

Anonymous said...

i was really saddened to see the building had been razed. it had charm and mystery to it. it is a real loss.

chuck, i love your work. i am really enjoying going through your archives and you do a wonderful job. thank you for approaching me and letting me know you are *here* as well :)

penni