Malabar Farm has Rich Heritage of Literature and Agriculture
December 1, 1999

Malabar is a coastal region in southwest India and was the setting for the novel The Rains Came. It's also the name of the farm south of Mansfield that was owned by the novel's noted author, Louis Bromfield. And it's only a short drive from Fostoria thus making for an enjoyable and fascinating day trip.

Bromfield was born in Mansfield in 1896 and died in 1956. He studied journalism and agriculture. When World War 1 broke out, Bromfield sailed for France and volunteered in the French army as an ambulance driver.

When he returned after the war, he resumed his writing and in 1927 published his third novel, "Early Autumn," which won the Pulitzer Prize.

In all Bromfield wrote 33 books.

With his prize money, Bromfield took his wife Mary and their daughter and returned to France for a vacation. That vacation lasted 12 years.

Where World War 1 drew him to Europe, the outbreak of World War II in 1939 drove him home to Mansfield where he purchased the four farms that make up Malabar Farm.

While in France, Bromfield continued to study agriculture and became adept at a technique called "grass farming." He countered erosion by the use of contour plowing.

Fostorian Lena Manecke was a visitor to Malabar Farm when Bromfield was still alive.

She and her husband and a dozen other couples were members of a farm bureau group, the Perry Progressives.

"We took trips and did interesting things connected with farming," said Lena. "We'd known about Bromfield so we made a day of it and talked with him. I remember him as a tall man. He had a weather-beaten look to him. He was a very friendly, outgoing man.

"I remember he showed us the advantages of sowing alfalfa in the fields. He had dug down about four feet so we could see the roots and how they helped loosen up the soil and keep it from getting too compacted."

Bromfield also planted grasses between rows of crops. His farming techniques resulted in large amounts of forage and pasture for livestock, renewed the soil, improved drainage and controlled erosion due to run-off.

Soil erosion is one of agriculture's most implacable enemies. In a sense, soil is America's largest export. If all the soil eroded annually in the U.S. was put in railroad cars, that train would stretch around the equator four times.

Today Malabar Farm State Park is operated by the Division of Parks and Recreation and is a working farm. The outbuildings (barn, silo, smoke house) still stand. The hills are planted with corn, wheat, oats and hay.

The Malabar Inn is a seasonal restaurant in an 1820 two-story home built from bricks formed on the site. Many menu selections feature Malabar Farms Gardens' own fresh produce.

And no visit is complete without a drive up the winding path to see top of "Mt. Jeez," the highest point on Malabar Farms. From the top you can see virtually the entire farm.

Mt. Jeez got its name when Bromfield and his business manager Walter Hawkins careened straight up the hillside in a jeep with Bromfield fearlessly at the wheel.

When they gained the summit, Hawkins looked at his boss and said, Jeez, don't do that again!"

Bomfield's residence, "The Big House," as he referred to it, is a 32-room, Western Reserve style mansion. It has been preserved just as Bromfield left it.

The mansion's most famous moment came May 21, 1945, when movie stars Humphery Bogart and Lauren Bacall were married at the foot of the main staircase.

Bromfield himself served as best man. A Mansfield judge was who performed the ceremony. In the middle of the service, one of Bromfield's dogs wandered in to see what all the fuss was about.

Deciding that Bogie and Bacall were no big deal, the pooch curled up at the judge's feet and went to sleep.

How Bromfield got any writing done is a puzzle. He loved to entertain and had houseguests almost constantly. Bogart and Bacall were just two of a long line of visitors to Bromfield's home.

Almost every one of Bromfield's novels became a best seller. He also wrote screen plays for over a dozen movies.

One, "The Rains Came," based on his novel, starred Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy and won an Academy Award for special effects.

James Cagney, Bogart, Lana Turner, Richard Burton, Mary Astor and Vincent Price are other notables of the silver screen whose movies' screenplays were penned by Bromfield.

Once Bromfield said, "Our house is a big house, well-built, to be used not only by ourselves but by friends and neighbors as well as by generations after we are dead."

And so it is. Malabar Farm is open for tours year round. The cost is $3 for adults, $1 for students. The farm is located southeast of Mansfield at 4050 Bromfield Rd., Lucas, Ohio 44843.
(419-892-2784) (www.malabarfarm.org)