From the Old Farm to Old Homestead 

Old Homestead began to take shape in 1955. Built upon land from the original grant Edward Steele recieved. Edward and his brother Harmon arrived in 1824, and built one of the first commercial enterprises of the area, a Grist Mill, in 1827(torn down in 1936). Old Homestead Subdivision is the one-time Steele Farm and Orchard. The Stone House at 11 Mile and Steele Road was built in 1920 using rocks found throughout our property by Frank and Bertha Steele.

A few houses still have remanants of the apples trees. There is much history in our city of Farmington Hills, and some just steps from our front door. The stream running across Drake at Howard was the center of activity known as of Sleepy Hollow. The Grist Mill was the first structure, utilizing the power of the rushing river, with the addition of the Millers cottage, moved across the road in the 1980's to the Southeast side of Drake Rd. at Howard Rd.

Sleepy Hollow was renamed Pernambuco Hollow around the late 1860s when Peter Hardenburg and his son took over operations of the mill. The area continued to grow and eventally offered a cooper's shop, a soap factory, a blacksmith, a store and a saw mill. The mill pond offered ice skating throughout the winters.

A few additional Items of Interest:
• Much of the subdivision was once an Apple Orchard, even producing the locally-known Steele Red Apples.
• The neighborhood street names are historically significant
• There was just one lot left in the subdivision, builders broke ground in late 2024
• Additional historical information about our community can be found at the link here