Darnell Farms is a true agro-tourism experience for the whole family. We are in a beautiful valley along the banks of the Tuckasegee River in Bryson City, North Carolina.
We’re an active, second-generation family farm. Our farm produces 100 acres of strawberries, pole beans, sweet corn, pumpkins, squash, a variety of tomatoes and much more.
Darnell Farms’ passion for farming sprang from the patriarch, Jeff Darnell’s, passion for land preservation. During the 1970’s in Western North Carolina, there was an interesting boom in land sales for development. While this added population to the rural area, it also took out beautiful and viable farmland, which was already few and far-between in these Southern Appalachia’s. Finding nutrient rich valleys located amongst water was becoming increasingly difficult, as people began building on precious land. Jeff Darnell decided as a young man that he was going to counteract the booming build for selling off the farmland, and he started farming every piece that he could. Today, the Darnells farm over 100 acres of precious farmland in Western North Carolina, all while working towards putting their farmland into Agricultural Preservation Programs through Mainspring Conservation Trust- ensuring that the land stays farmland for generations to come.
We have several festivals throughout the year. In addition, we host special events and activities for various organizations in our area. We also offer educational field trips to our farm. During our field trips we love sharing information about farm life, methods used to raise our crops, and how to be good stewards of our precious land. We even discuss the history of the lands we farm, including the ties to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who are literally our next-door neighbors.
Our mission is to educate, protect, and influence the preservation and understanding of Appalachian Agriculture in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina, by making our working farm a memorable experience for everyone.