Alexander Annand, his wife and three children, immigrated from Nova Scotia in 1885 with the intent on homesteading in the lush Campbell Valley near Langley, B.C. Mr. Annand purchased his homestead through the Dominion Land and Timber Agents. In 1885 the railway was completed from Vancouver, and new settlers poured in from the east and settled in the Fraser Valley. The mild climate and good soil in the Fraser Valley was some of the most fertile Canadian farmland.

The early settlers were ranchers who grazed beef cattle, but this changed over the course of the first generation of homesteaders because the luxuriant valley was so well suited for dairy cattle and orchards. Alexander Annand planted hay for his cattle and grew foxglove for honey production. The old barn was originally used for hay and foxglove storage. When Mr. Rowlatt built the second big barn in the 1930's, it was used to house dairy cattle.