The history of Johnson Estate begins with an English orphan named Frederick Johnson (1877-1960). He immigrated to Canada as a teenager and found his way to Cornell at the turn of the century to study entomology. In 1908, Johnson purchased a circa-1822 home and farm along the banks of Freelings Creek in Westfield, N.Y. He planted apple, cherry, and peach orchards, and Concord vineyards, and named the farm Sunnyslope Fruit Farm.