A group of Windham residents is working at the juncture of history and culture as it takes a pass at purchasing the Parson Smith Farm for use in farming education.

The group, which rose out of the ashes of a previous effort that fell short of raising the $700,000 needed to buy the 244-year-old River Road house and surrounding 124 acres, is now focused on turning the site into an agricultural business incubator where prospective farmers can gain the skills necessary to work the land.

The prior fundraising effort by the Windham Historical Society centered on solely preserving the historic site, and the group was only able to raise around $57,000 before it disbanded last year. The new approach will broaden the project’s appeal to foundations and other grant sources, said Windham Town Councilor Donna Chapman, who is part of the ad hoc committee approved last month by the Town Council.

“There are other properties that have been purchased successfully and are being used with a similar approach,” Chapman wrote in an e-mail.

The group has retained the help of Threshold to Maine, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides technical assistance on issues related to natural resources. The idea of using an historical property to help bolster and grow the farming industry fits well with Threshold to Maine’s mission, said Mark Hews, program coordinator.

“We’ve been looking at the whole issue of agricultural economic development for the last 12 years,” said Hews, who has submitted to the town a site and business plan for the Parson Smith property. The Parson Smith site was a working farm for decades, and a return to that purpose makes a compelling argument, he said.

“We felt that the historical property and the agriculture business really belong together,” said Hews. “Going back to using it for agricultural purposes fits nicely with its historic character.”

The demand for locally made products is growing so rapidly that the local agriculture industry cannot support it, Hews said. The industry has been broken down over the years as customers moved away from locally grown meat, poultry and produce. Now, Hews said, the production, distribution and storing capacity has to be rebuilt, and the Parson Smith Farm project is one piece of the puzzle.

“We are looking at reestablishing that infrastructure in support of local agriculture,” he said.

The idea sits well with Parson Smith owners Don and Elaine Dickinson, who took the property off the market three years ago to give the Windham Historical Society an opportunity to buy it. The Dickinsons are proud of the property’s heritage, and open the old house each year to tour groups, including students from Windham Primary School.

“I think that would be wonderful,” Elaine Dickinson said of making the site a working farm once again. “If I were younger, I’d like to be around to work on it.”

The farming industry needs the help, Dickinson added. The average age of farmers in Maine is 60, so the time is now to create the next generation, she said.

“We need a place where people can learn to do things like farm and can,” said Dickinson. “Where they can do a lot of the things that people used to do but have forgotten how to.”

Also, said Dickinson, sludge has never been used on the land, only manure from neighboring Winny Knowl Farm, whose owner Gary Winship makes hay bales from the grass. It would be a perfect place to take advantage of the boom in organic farming, Dickinson said.

“It’s very good land,” she said.

But the Dickinsons cannot hold on to the land forever, they said. Don, 78, and Elaine, 68, are looking to move to a home that comes with a few less worries.

“We’d like to move to a more energy efficient house,” said Elaine Dickinson. “Maybe closer to our kids in Massachusetts.”

Plus, said Don Dickinson, a home built in 1764 needs plenty of upkeep.

“It takes a lot of time and effort,” he said. “As one ages, it’s a greater challenge every year. Plus, the more you cannot do, the more you have to pay to have done.”

But the couple hopes the new fundraising effort is more successful than the last. Other towns, including Falmouth, have opened teaching farms with help from the Department of Agriculture, Elaine said.

“Windham should have a place like that too,” she said.

A new group has surfaced to try to raise the funds necessary to buy the historic Parson Smith Farm in Windham. They hope to turn the property into a working farm used to educate people entering the agriculture industry.