A LAND RICH IN HISTORY & TRADITION......
In 1887 Arthur Angelo Corte emigrated from Italy to the United States and married Madalena Bertolla probably in 1889. They had seven children, six sons and a daughter, between the years 1892 and 1907.
About 1896, a person selling real estate was in the Minnesota territory selling property in Baldwin County, Alabama, sight unseen, to immigrants. Painting the picture so beautifully, he told them of the great opportunities in this area. Arthur Angelo and Madalena Corte came to Baldwin County with a piece of paper in their hands showing they had bought a small plot of land, about 10 acres. After building a home for his wife and growing family, Mr. Corte found it necessary to return to Minnesota from time to time to work in the mines. This helped support his family until he could establish himself enough to clear the land and begin his farming operation. At every opportunity in the years that followed, they would add to their purchase, an acre here, and additional acre there. They saved every penny possible from the latest harvest to buy more land, until years later A. A. Corte & Sons had amassed one of the largest agricultural land holdings in Baldwin County. By the 1950s this farming family owned more than 7,500 acres of prime farm land and their partnership was considered one of the agricultural giants, known not only throughout Baldwin County, but also the United States and Canada.
And now the time has come for a new chapter. Oldfield is excited and proud to preserve the history of this land by telling its story in day to day life. The home is Oldfield’s clubhouse, always warm, friendly and inviting. The red barn will live on as we use the history-soaked boards and other remnants to build a pavilion for casual parties and gatherings. And the old oaks? The oaks stand ever watchful over their home and are more than ready to raise yet another generation of children under their branches.
After returning home from serving his country in World War I, Arthur Angelo’s and Madalena’s oldest son, John Arthur decided to build a home. In 1924, he and his father built a barn and the two story white farmhouse that is today, being preserved as Oldfield’s clubhouse. In the next 45 years, Julio and his wife, Mary Ann, doubled the size of their home, bricked the exterior and added a porch and the stately white columns in the front. The beautiful two story southern home, with its two large spreading oaks standing watch over the front of the house and the red barn to the rear, has made this home, and its land a well known landmark on Hwy 181.
