History

Brightwaters Farms has been in existence since the late 1600's. The farmland was purchased from the King of England by the Phelps family, the farm’s original founders. The farm at that time consisted of thousands of beautiful undeveloped acres, some wooded and some cultivated, as well as grazing fields for the cows, sheep, and other animals that were raised on the farm.

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In 1907, the Phelps family sold portions of the land to T.B. Ackerson who then developed the Brightwaters Farm section of Bay Shore. After that the farm was reduced in size. The remaining 750 acres of farmland were then sold in small parcels. In 1938, after his return from the war, Paul DeFere of Bay Shore, purchased more than 50 acres from T.B. Ackerson. Paul continued the Phelps’ farming traditions and worked the land until his death. Just prior to his death, Paul had sold the building and development rights to the Suffolk County Farmland Preservation Committee leaving the farmlands protected from future building and development.
 

Paul’s wife, Edith, took over the farm operations after his death. Edith cultivated less than 15 acres of the land leaving much of it unused. The farm was revived and brought to new life in 1995 when Robin Quintal and her family began to cultivate and grow crops working side by side with Edith DeFere. The Quintals purchased the farm in 1997. Edith stayed on until 2001 for a four year transition.

 

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The Quintal family expanded Brightwaters Farms in 2006 with the purchase of an old rundown dairy farm in Masonville, NY, located in Delaware County. The Quintal family spent many years restoring all of the buildings and barns and reclaimed all of the fallow hay fields. The Masonville farm is once again the PRIDE of Masonville, just as it was in the 1700s when it was owned and worked by the Willis family, the original owners.
 

In the fall of 2014, an opportunity to purchase a bankrupt farm and greenhouse operation in Oneida County's, Utica NY, presented itself. The Quintal and DeRitis families closed the deal in the spring of 2015. The facility, the former C.F. Baker and Sons operation, was founded in 1923. It is one of the largest facilities in the Northeast situated on over 100 acres consisting of more than 750,000 square feet of state of the art greenhouses with another 250,000 plus square feet of supporting buildings and acres of open cultivation fields. The facility is currently growing fruits, vegetables, plants and shrubs. The growing programs are being expanded upon daily.