The quote from Robert Frost "The land was ours before we were the land's," epitomizes the bond of the Bayliss family with the land. The Baylisses have been stewards of this piece of the Willamette Valley for more than a century. In 1906, brothers Daniel and Samuel Bayliss purchased the Donation Land Claim of James and Edith Greene. The family started clearing the trees and brush in order to farm the land. The farm added a dairy operation in the 1920s. Samuel Bayliss took milk into Portland to sell on a sternwheeler steamboat.
Daniel's son, Samuel D. and his wife Barbara purchased the farm in the 1930s. They moved from dairy-based farming to raising wheat, hay, clover, peas and sheep. As their son Mike and daughter-in-law Drenda became more involved in the farm in the 70s and 80s, they began making more grass hay and raising Black Angus cattle for beef. Today, the vineyard is the only crop farmed by the Bayliss family. The fourth and fifth generations of the Bayliss family continue to work and live on the farm today. Mike and Drenda live in the original farmhouse built in 1906 by Daniel and Samuel. Mike, Drenda, their son Michael, their daughter Bernadette and son-in-law, Cameron Bower are working together to make the vineyard and Ghost Hill Cellars a success and preserve the farm for future generations.