History


        Peach History 

     Peaches have long been a part of our family. We grew peaches for many years on our farm in Pickens, County, Alabama. Our family originated out of Chilton County, Alabama many years ago, and moved back to Alabama in the 70’s. Grandpa (Charles M.) Griffin put in his first peach orchard in Ethelsville, AL in 1976. It started producing in 1979 and the peaches were sold at the farm and out of the front yard of son, Charlie’s home in West Point, MS. A second orchard started producing in 1981.


Charlie and Kathleen and their growing brood left West Point to move to the farm in Ethelsville in 1982. Summer of 1983, most of the peaches were still trucked to West Point, where Granddaddy, Earl Young, sold them from his front yard. Later we built a “Peach Shed” between the orchards, where fresh picked peaches were taken and sold to customers throughout the day. Jenny, Daniel and Charlie, the three oldest, can remember many summers filled with early mornings in a wet peach orchard and long hot days of manning the roadside stand. That’s not to mention the spraying, pruning, thinning and other tending that the orchards required during the rest of the year. Daisy, Rivers, and Sarah were all born after the move to the farm.

Peaches were regularly taken into Columbus, MS to the Farmer’s Market on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays; even though that meant being set up by day break, to be ready for early customers! There were several times before any of the Griffin children were old enough to have a driver’s licenses when Mom would drive Jenny and a trailer load of peaches to the Columbus Farmer’s Market, leaving Jenny to handle the morning sales, with the assurance that all the other vendors were close at hand if she needed anything. Mom would return to the farm to help pick another load of peaches and then return with them. The folks at “the Market” became like family. Daisy was only about 3 year old when she went home with the Sanders from Becker, MS and stayed until the next market day.


When “little” Charlie started playing baseball, we finally put an “honor” box on our stand, and would leave the farm for periods of time during peach season. This system worked well for many years.


About the time Jenny started college the orchards played out, the decision was made not to replace the trees, and the Griffin’s were done with peaches – or so we thought. A few years later as Jenny was nearing the end of her bachelor’s degree at Mississippi State and looking ahead to starting her Masters, she and her Daddy were having lunch in Starkville Café and brainstorming about summer job possibilities. In this interim, since the orchards had played out, Uncle Raymond Winters had bought and sold peaches from his truck. But, when her Daddy suggested buying and reselling peaches, Jenny’s immediate response was, “No, thank-you!” However, upon further thought, Jenny decided to give it a try. So in late May or early June of 1997, Jenny pulled her little black Toyota pickup, loaded with peaches, into the parking lot of McGinnis Barber Shop in downtown Starkville. It was an almost instant success.


That same summer, Jenny's brother Charlie was selling off the old loading dock of the Justice, Co. in West Point, MS.


Jenny sold in front of McGinnis Barber Shop in Starkville for three summers, during which time she also got married and finished her Masters Degree in French at MSU. After that, Jenny gave up the peach business. She and her husband, Michael, moved to Georgia where Michael taught High School and eventually Middle School Math. He completed a Master’s Degree in Math Ed., and coached wrestling. Jenny taught Middle School French for two years before the birth of their first child, Kathleen. Joshua was born almost two years later and Jenny has thoroughly enjoyed being a stay-at-home mom.


The Griffin clan continued to sell peaches at McGinnis Barber Shop until Mr. McGinnis’s death. Jenny had started in 1997 and continued through 1999. In 2000, Daisy and Charlie were at McGinnis’. In 2001, Daniel graduated from the College of Charleston, and returned home to sell peaches in the summer before starting a job in FL that fall. 2002, Sarah inherited the Starkville stand, where family friend, Ray Franklin, worked much of the next three season for her.
After Mr. McGinnis’s death, the peach truck moved to the Mobile Station on the corner of Hwy 12 and Airport Rd. for the summers of 2005 and 2006.


Almost seven years after leaving the Starkville area, Jenny was back in 2006. Mike decided to change the focus of his career. Because of a desire to be able to focus more on eternal issues and less on math and other school paper work, he and Jenny decided to move to Wake Forest, NC so he could attend Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in order to become better equipped to teach young people to be disciples of Christ. They asked Sarah, who was currently in charge of peach sales in Starkville, for the opportunity to come back and sell peaches in order to add to their savings for Seminary. She graciously agreed and this is their second summer back in Starkville.


This summer, 2007, Jenny’s truck is in front of Nesco on the corner of Lampkin St. and Montgomery St. and Sarah has a truck on Hwy. 12, next to Pepper’s (where you will find Ben Ballenger selling peaches).


Since the summer of 1997, Charlie, Daisy, Rivers, and Sarah have all sold peaches in West Point, and Columbus, MS. Several friends have worked for them on various stands; many regular customers will know and remember Ray, Byron, Kurt, Leah, Jessica, and Kayla.


Currently, in addition to the two stands in Starkville, there are also two stands in Columbus. Sarah operates the stand in the Rite Aid parking lot on the corner of Hwy. 45 and 18th Ave., were she works two days a week and Leah works two days a week. Callie, Rivers’ wife, is running their stand across from Lowe’s in Columbus. d


This is the eleventh year we are partnering with a grower in
Chilton County Alabama to bring the freshest, best peaches this county produces to the Golden Triangle area.

Chilton County is known through the Southeast for their wonderful peaches. We have a peach truck running daily to bring the freshest peaches available to you. At our stands you can be assured these are the best peaches available today. Picked the afternoon before and to us at dawn, then straight out to the peach stands. These peaches don't sit in the basket long!



Website Created and Maintained by: Griffin Consulting