PHOTO: Elevations
PHOTO CREDIT: GAF Architecture and RA Krouse

New construction will begin this fall on Cherry Hill Barn, an addition to Shaw’s Cherry Hill Farm in Gorham, adjacent to Sebago Brewing Company. Designed as a vibrant community hub, the barn’s primary purpose is to support a regional farm market, providing a permanent space for area farmers to sell fresh, locally grown products. 

Shaw Brothers is in discussion with Sebago Brewing to take the lead in managing the market, which will host weddings, reunions, town functions and other gatherings and will have a capacity for approximately 400 guests.

Cherry Hill Barn will feature a large commercial kitchen for breakfast and lunch service on market days, along with an ice cream shop operated by MK Kitchen. There will be live piano music echoing through the building, which has been designed to showcase rustic post-and-beam construction and a traditional stone exterior. The Shaw Brothers solar farm in Buxton will supply electricity. 

The barn’s massive beams, harvested in Washington state, are drying before transport to Arundel, Maine, where post-and-beam contractor RA Krouse will fabricate and erect the structure. Dennis Nickerson of Affordable Builders will oversee the rest of the construction.

A legacy of stewardship guides the Shaw Brothers Family Foundation. It spearheads this project as part of its mission to preserve and protect the 258-acre Cherry Hill Farm land originally granted by the king of England. 

Steeped in local history, the mission of the Foundation is to support the development of a working farm, to build and maintain public trails, and to actively support local charitable organizations, with a particular emphasis on sustaining youngsters and adults facing life-altering illnesses. Past preservation efforts include relocating and restoring the 1820s Mosher Barn from Lower Main Street to Cherry Hill Farm. Mosher Barn is now home to the Gorham Historical Society.

“Cherry Hill” honors Dewayn Shaw, Jon and Dan Shaw’s father, who renamed the family farm in West Gorham in the 1960s, after acquiring a registered herd of Holstein cows from H. P. Hood’s Cherry Hill Farm in Massachusetts. The current Cherry Hill property itself has a varied past, as it was once considered for a large housing project, a gas plant, and later a landfill.

With a concept of giving back to the community in mind, the Shaw Brothers acknowledge that their work in construction, quarries, and gravel pits can be a nuisance to the community. Cherry Hill Farm is one way of giving back to the folks who have supported their efforts over the years, creating a space that fosters connection and celebrates local heritage. 

The Shaw Brothers Family Foundation has been built to endure beyond the Shaw brothers’ lifetimes, ensuring its mission of land preservation, awareness of childhood illness, and community support well into the future.