The Story of the Farm in Blackjack Valley

Blackjack farm records date as far back as the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Arkansas became a territory in 1819 and a state in 1836. The earliest record of the farm is an 1860 Land Grant to Richard C. Riley. In 1968, the Jones family purchased the farm from Dexter Graves.

Communities like Huntington were booming coal towns in the early 1900’s and there was a rich agricultural history, as well. Until 1959, Blackjack farms and the entire valley was known for its strawberry production, shipping strawberries to the eastern United States via train. Many “old-timers” remember picking strawberries in their youth to harvest this large crop that supplied berries to more than just the locals.

Today we are trying to restore the once rich soil so it can once again grow plants as it did before it was stripped by intense grazing and commercial farming practices that rely on insecticide, fungicide and chemical fertilizers .

The Jones family has been farming the land for the last 50+ years and includes our matriarch, Freda Parker, son Kevin Jones and wife Sherry, daughter Melanie Jones, and grandchildren Karly and Katy Jones, and Emerald Baker.

We welcome you to Blackjack Blooms, Berries, and Brushes for fresh berries, watermelons, the pumpkin patch and art lessons at the studio.