The region where the Hoffmann farm stood was full of streams and ponds, protruding boulders, and rolling hills. Old Indian trails laced the valley. Many had been abandoned for decades and were overgrown and forgotten, but others had been widened into roads as settlers moved west. Not far away, there were iron ore, copper, and coal mines whose workers came from Ireland, Wales and England as well as Central and Eastern Europe and who brought Catholicism to the mostly Quaker and Lutheran communities.
Uncle Jonathan raised soybeans, hay, wheat, rye, and oats; he had pear, apple, and peach orchards. An ox, two Belgian draft horses, four quarter horses, and a mule did the heavy work and got them where they needed to go. Three dairy cows, a dozen chickens, geese, ducks and pigs provided milk, cheese, eggs, and meat. Seasonal laborers were hired in the spring and fall and day workers when they were needed.
The farm’s stone and wood house was a hundred years old. The original part of the house was three stories; a summer kitchen and pantry had been added on some fifty years later. The big room at the rear of the house had a long wooden table that could seat ten people and was used for all their meals. The back porch was a recent addition; a part of it was partitioned off for the bath and laundry rooms. There was a well in the yard and an underground space by the barn where they stored ice.