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!
