History
The Thompson family has been in Kenosha County for over 150+ years. In 1839, William A. Stetson (1st Generation) and family came from New York by ox cart to start a family farm in Wisconsin. The land first had to be cleared of trees, and the first orchard in Eastern Kenosha County (Somers) was planted.
Over the years, William R. Stetson (2nd Generation) and then Norman Thompson (3rd Generation) continued to clear the land for farming.
In the early 20's, William and Harry Thompson (4th Generation) expanded the orchard. 20 acres of cherry trees were planted in 1924, and by 1927 the orchard was up to 80 acres of cherry and apple trees. The first strawberries were planted in 1928. The farm was known as, Thompson Orchard and Strawberry Farm.
By the 1960's Charles Thompson (5th Generation) had grown the orchard to over 100 acres that included cherries, apples, and strawberries.
In 1967, the farm was taken by the state to make way for the building of the University of Wisconsin Parkside. This is when the farm was relocated to Bristol on Hwy 50. At this time, an orchard would take many years to reestablish, so the family decided to focus solely on strawberries. Thompson Orchard and Strawberry Farm was then reduced to Thompson Strawberry Farm. In the first few years, Charles, Jeff and Gary Thompson (6th Generation) had planted 150 acres of strawberries, making it the largest pick-your-own strawberry farm in the country.
In the 1980's, Thompsons decided to further diversify the farm again, adding pick-your-own raspberries and pumpkins.
In 2000, part of the farm was sold to the Strawberry Creek Golf Course community. At this time, Jeff and Scott Thompson (7th Generation) moved all of the strawberries to rented land adjacent to the golf course community, reducing in size.
In 2018 the rented land was sold, and a new location was needed. In 2020, the strawberry farm was relocated once again to its now current location in Bristol on the corner of Hwy MB and K. The previous land was still available to rent, so Scott decided to plant sunflowers in 2020 and has continued since, adding other flower varieties such as zinnias and wildflowers. In 2021, a small adventure farm was added with plans to expand.
In 2022 the farm on the south side of Hwy 50 was purchased. This location will be for the expansion of sunflowers, raspberries, pumpkins and the Adventure Farm!
Our family has moved and evolved over many years and generations. We look forward to many more years serving the community with a fun, family oriented farm experience!
William Thompson
Fourth Generation
William Thompson started the farm in 1920, planting mainly apples and cherries. William had a wife Laura, and four children, Lucy, Charles, Richard, and Jean.
Charles & Marilyn
Fifth Generation
Charles grew up on the farm in Somers. He Served in WWII, and when he came home got his degree in agriculture from UW Madison. He came back to the farm to continue what his father had started. He was married to Marilyn, and they had four children, Susan, Jeff, Nancy, and Gary.
Jeff & Marcia
Sixth Generation
Jeff also grew up working in the apple orchard in Somers. He was also part of the rebuilding process when the farm was moved to Bristol in 1969. He attended short course at UW Madison before coming back to the farm. He is married to Marcia, and they have three children, Jim, Barry, and Scott.
Scott & Megan
Seventh Generation
Scott, the youngest of the three boys, grew up helping on the farm in Bristol. He decided that he wanted to keep the tradition alive, so he stayed to slowly take over the business. He met his wife Megan on the farm when she applied for a summer job. They have three children, Grayson, Riley, and Quinn.
