Spring Creek Farm is located on lands once stewarded by two Native American tribes. To the northwest were the Pequawket, or Pigwacket, a subdivision of the Abenaki people who formerly lived near the headwaters of the Saco River in Carroll County, New Hampshire and Oxford County, Maine.
To the south were the Wawenock one of the bands or subgroups of the Penobscot tribe which are part of the larger Wabanaki Confederacy. The Wawenock people were hard-hit by European diseases and merged into other Wabanaki groups of Maine, where their descendants still live today.
The European history of the farm may be traced back to the early 19th century. The 1878 Maine Atlas identifies the property as belonging to the Emmons family. Descendants of this family, including a Civil War Veteran, are buried in a small hilltop plot to the south. At one time the lane continued across Carlisle Brook westerly to the town of Alfred. Just below the Armentrout’s home was a well-frequented blacksmith shop.
Two Drown family relatives (the namesake for Drown Lane) came to own the two abutting farms at the end of the lane in the early 20th century. Lawrence Drown ran what is now Spring Creek Farm as an active dairy for over 40 years, eventually passing it on to his oldest grandson, David Gray, who ran the dairy until 1977. The dairy supplied milk for many years to Shaw’s Ridge Dairy but closed in the late 70’s as regulations changed.
Both farms survived the fire of 1947 which ravaged much of Lyman, Arundel, and burned into the Kennebunks, but not without the back-breaking efforts of its owners who hosed the house roofs as waves of ash blew from the Massebesic Forest to the west.
The Armentrouts were able to join the two farms once again as part of their commitment to farmland preservation, first purchasing the Drown family farm (to the south) in the spring of 1998, and the second piece, a portion of the Gray family farm (to the north), in the fall of 2003.
Today, Spring Creek Farm carries on the farming tradition as an active equestrian facility and organic farm producing hay, small feed grains, lamb, wool, poultry and firewood, and housing many 4-legged, well-loved animals.
About the Founders
Nick and Sarah Armentrout founded and manage Spring Creek Farm and Carlisle Academy in Lyman, Maine. The Armentrouts, who grew up together in Kennebunk, Maine, knew early on that they wanted their life’s work to combine their love of horses with helping others. Initially, the couple pursued their goals separately, by moving out west in their early 20s to study riding instruction and work with horses. Nick was a wrangler and a ranch hand in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, and also a riding instructor for riders with and without disabilities. Sarah, first certified as a PATH International Advanced Level Instructor in 1995, trained at The National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy in Woodside, California, and later as a working student for Peggy Cummings’ Connected Riding in Idaho. While in Idaho, the couple worked together for three years in Hailey, managing the Sagebrush Equine Training Center for the Handicapped (SETCH).
Although they had positive experiences out west, the Armentrouts wanted to move back home—and to the community that supported them during their youth—to build a farm of their own. Fortunately, besides equestrian skills, both had business experience as well, having worked in corporate roles including marketing, communication, and sales.
Today their early vision is a reality with the myriad, life-enhancing programs that take place on the farm every day.
