Haight's Place

Benguet is regarded as the salad bowl of the Philippines due to the massive production of vegetables in the area. It is not widely known that the beginnings of vegetable cultivation in the southern portion of the Cordilleras can be attributed to an American engineer working on Kennon Road, who was forced to retreat higher upland from Baguio because of health reasons.

In the early 1900s, American engineer Mr. Haight moved further upward from Baguio to Atok, Benguet for better climes to nurse a health condition rather than return to the U.S. He then started importing and planting vegetable seedlings in his properties. He married a local who bore him three sons and a daughter. He also adopted a boy named Aselo who helped him in the farm. As he became more prosperous, more entrepreneurs followed his lead.

It is due to Franklin Guy Haight's intervention that Benguet was transformed into a major vegetable hub. His great grandson Edward Haight and other progeny continue the farming tradition.