Turning from the bustle of Route 32 onto the single-lane drive of Nixon's Farm is instantly calming. Acres of rolling fields dotted with wildflowers are bordered by lush woods, with bright yellow picnic tables clustered in their shade.
But beneath the quiet exterior lies the Nixon family's 40-year struggle to make a living with its 129-acre farm in West Friendship in western Howard County. "It's been constant hard work," said 39-year-old owner Randall Nixon.
Hard work, said his mother, Mildred Nixon, and "recognizing good ideas when they came up and not being afraid to try them."
The farm, which grossed about $500,000 last year, is a prospering conference and special events facility that offers catering and a recently renovated conference room in a 100-year-old barn. Inside, there is seating for up to 225 people.
Outdoors, the farm can accommodate 5,000, "though there are never that many people sitting at once -- they're off hiking or playing ball or fishing in the pond," Mildred Nixon said.
The growth of Nixon's farm from a homestead to a retreat to a thriving events center is a story in perseverance that began when Mildred Nixon's late husband, Roosevelt, moved to Baltimore in 1946.
The young black man was seeking better opportunities than he'd had in North Carolina as the son of a sharecropper. Starting with earnings from full-time work and amateur boxing, he ran a gypsy cab service, an unlicensed fleet that served black patrons.
He married Mildred Barnes in 1950 and built a chain of liquor and grocery stores and bought an apartment building.
But Mildred Nixon yearned to raise their children on a farm. The couple looked in Howard County because it was known to be more accepting of blacks' owning farmland than other areas at the time.
The beauty of the farm hooked them. "The first time I saw this place, I knew I wanted to live here forever," she said. They bought the farm in 1956.
Although working the land proved unprofitable, the farm was a wonderful retreat. "People were always following my husband from the city," she recalled.
RTC By the early 1960s, the farm evolved into a country club for Jewish and black professionals who were barred from local social organizations.
The land sometimes was rented for picnics, and for a time Mildred Nixon ran camps to give city children a chance to enjoy the country and to provide playmates for her two sons.
