By Anna Reinalda | Posted April 24, 2025
Pam and Gary Mount of Terhune Orchards held a press conference last month announcing their 50th anniversary as a local landmark farm.
The Terhune Farmhouse.
Local farmers and business affiliates gathered to congratulate the Mount family on their impressive growth, and enjoy some memories shared by the Mounts and their daughters. New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Ed Wengryn, and Senator Shirley Turner attended the celebration, as well as Kristen Foca, who brought a statement from Congressman Andy Kim. Terhune Orchards was also awarded a joint resolution from the New Jersey Senate and State Assembly recognizing Terhune Orchards in High Esteem.
From left: Pam and Gary Mount with their daughters, and partners, Tannwen Mount and Reuwai Mount Hanewald.
Pam and Gary Mount secured their original 55 acres on Cold Soil Road in 1975. “In Mercer County no one had purchased a farm for actual farming in 25 years,” Gary writes in A Farmer’s Life, his collection of Terhune newsletters and more. “Farmers were selling their properties to developers … not young couples with dreams of working the land.”
Swimming against the tide, the high school sweethearts were determined to make their new enterprise a success. Ed Wengryn said in his remarks: “These two were taking a leap of faith … and a belief in food and food systems.”
Gary grew up on a large apple farm, Mount Farms, on Route 1 in West Windsor, which his family sold in the early 1960s. Ironically, Pam grew up on Terhune Road in Princeton. She and Gary started dating while attending Princeton High School. After college, Pam in Ohio and Gary at Princeton, the pair had enlisted in the Peace Corps, spending three years in Micronesia teaching English, and agricultural and water management skills. They enjoyed living in community and collaboration with the local citizens, and wanted to bring that intention back to their home state.
Thus their search for farmland real estate began. They held onto the original name of the farm property, hoping the familiar Terhune brand would help attract and retain business. “We borrowed so much money and were in so much debt, we needed every last customer,” Gary said. Within a decade, the Mounts’ success allowed them to expand with a property on Van Kirk Road, and then again in 2003 when they purchased 65 more acres.
Terhune Orchards Farm Store
All the while, developers were consuming the New Jersey farmland all around them. “Farming in most of New Jersey is a less profitable use of land than developing it for commercial or residential space,” Gary writes. Taking steps against the chronic threat of overdevelopment, the Mount family took action in 2008 by preserving their 26-acre orchard on Van Kirk Road.
Farmland preservation incentivises farm owners to preserve their land by offering a pay out – essentially the landowner sells land to the state in order to protect it from developers, which is a win-win. “The importance of this to my family can hardly be overstated,” Gary writes. “For Pam and me … our decision to participate in the [preservation] program makes it far easier for future generations of Mounts to farm the land. We’re lucky to have children who are interested in doing so.”
Pam was already pregnant with their first daughter, Reuwai, when the Mounts purchased the Cold Soil property. Now adults with children of their own, daughters Reuwai and Tannwen have signed on as official business partners to their parents, and look forward to carrying the torch into the next 50 years.
“Pam and I are among the luckiest of farmers, because we have two of our children who have committed themselves to following us as farmers here at Terhune’s,” Gary said at the celebration. “They both went to college. They had opportunities to do anything they wanted to do, but they made the commitment to come back here and farm with us. It just doesn’t get much better for a farmer than when their children want to do what they’ve been doing.”
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Both Tannwen and Reuwai argued that it was their privilege to have grown up on the farm, and cherish the opportunity to continue its tradition. “Of course, we feel like we’re the fortunate ones,” Reuwai said.
Coming from a multi-generation farming family, Gary grew up in the thick of the agricultural business. Still, he credits the success of Terhune Orchards to his wife. “All the good things that you see – they come from the ideas that Pam has.” Singing Pam’s praise, Shirley Turner highlighted Pam’s many triumphs. “Pam always gets involved!” she joked, correctly.
Farm visitors enjoying wine at Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery, which offers live music and a selection of award-winning red, white, and fruit wines crafted from their own vineyards and orchards.
In addition to her work on the farm, Pam dedicated 12 years to municipal service, including three years as mayor of Lawrence Township. She also had a hand in innumerable community initiatives, including establishing Farmers Against Hunger, the Lawrence- Hopewell Trail, and chairing the Lawrence Nature Center Board and Sustainable Lawrence. She was recognized by the New Jersey Society of Women Environmental Professionals, and served on the NJ Clean Air Council. Truly, her list of accolades exceeds what can be expressed within these margins.
Never tiring, Pam Mount is a beacon in the community. “That shows you what women can do!” Turner said. So much a balanced partnership, Gary shines a light on his wife in the dedication of A Farmer’s Life. “Much in life is a shared effort,” he writes. “Together since high school, through college, serving in the Peace Corps, traveling around the world, and taking the risk to become New Jersey farmers in the 1970s – all these things we have done together. “It would not have been much fun alone. I am grateful for her enthusiasm and love.”
HOW MANY LOCAL KIDS KNOW THIS TRACTOR? From left: Editor Barbara A. Preston (left) with writer Anna Reinalda at Terhune Orchards in 1997.
Today, Terhune Orchards welcomes more than 700,000 visitors every year, drawing in crowds with seasonal festivals, as well as the omnipresent apple cider donut. Swarming to the fields for pick-your-own adventures, or enjoying a glass of wine under a shade tree, customers from out-of-state, and even international travelers, voyage to Lawrenceville for a chance to visit the famed farm.
Long live its legacy.
