The Fifty Acres

For over 150 years, the Haushalter family cultivated fifty acres of land in Water Valley, Hamburg, New York—fifty acres that were one of the original parcels sold off by the Holland Land Company when they first divided up the State of New York. From 1856 until 2008, this plot was the foundation for generations of family life—a landscape that remained a constant even as its members took their work and experiences across the country and the globe.

In 2008, June Haushalter, the final family steward, departed the property, carrying with her 150 years of accumulated history—from hundreds of professional and candid photos spanning over a century, to the quiet ledgers of farm management to the unique artifacts gathered by family members during their varied professional, military and personal travels. The Fifty Acres serves as the digital home for that legacy.

This archive preserves the intersection of our family’s local roots in Erie County with the diverse, often unexpected, trajectories of those who called this land home. It honors the history of the soil, June's stewardship, and the disparate stories that grew from this single, persistent piece of land. It represents a slice of American rural life as experienced by one Western New York family, and as preserved in the remarkable collection of artifacts saved by June through the years.