Areas within the fire district area, which have been well known for their farms have been Greenwich , the , , Midgell , and the . Greenwich was a prosperous farming area until the latter half of the 19th Century. Of particular interest is the role that the Greenwich sand dunes played in relation to the surrounding farms. 'THE COMMONS" A great deal of the land currently owned by Parks Canada in Greenwich , which has been recently turned into a , was owned by the Sanderson family for four generations. Cyrill Sanderson, his Father John, and his Grandfather Garbert, and his great grandfather Charlie all farmed the 353 acres of the land on and surrounding the Greenwich sand dunes. Cyrill recalled how the land on the Dunes has changed: "It was really nice twenty years ago, it was just hard sand out to the shore. It's starting to get down to the clay on the back end of it." (56) Another farm, owned by Art Sanderson , is one of the few remaining farms left in the lower end of Greenwich today. His youngest daughter Gertie Yorston , recalls that when she was a child the sand dunes were all fenced in and were referred to as 'The Commons," where the neighboring farm's animals were all set to pasture. There was a path fenced to the ponds so the animals would have access to fresh water. In the fall the animals would be gathered and taken home. Each farm had its animals marked with a distinctive brand so the animals could be distinguished. (57) Lambert VanOmme also farmed in Greenwich beside the Sanderson Farms. Coming to Canada from Holland in 1948, Lambert purchased his farm from the (Sheldon) Hayden family and ran a mixed farm there until 1972. Living in close proximity, the farmers all helped each other and worked cooperatively. Lambert was also very familiar with the sand dunes at Greenwich and has one memory in particular that stands out: We were walking across the sand dunes towards home and here was an old stump that was standing high above the ground. I said "Herman, look at that." He said, "What?" I said "an old axe standing against a tree." The axe was a two-bited axe that was sharp on both sides, with a small handle. So I picked up the axe and took it with me. I went to my neighbor Cyril (Sanderson) and said, "Why didn't you take the axe back?" He said, "What do you mean?" I said, "Here, I got it." Looking at it Cyrill replied, "Gee, that was Leith's (Sanderson) axe. It must have been twenty years ago We" refers to Lambert and his friend Herman. 105