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Visitors to Inman Farms can take a self-guided tour of the property that has been in Roe Inman's family since 1893. Highlights include the Italianate-style "big house."
Griffin Poulter Photography
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The old country store is another highlight of the farm's self-guided tour.
Griffin Poulter Photography
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"Farming is in my blood. It's the way I was raised," Roe Inman says of his desire to preserve the legacy of family farming.
Griffin Poulter Photography
When visitors arrive at The Market at Inman Farms, they expect to find locally grown produce and homemade treats, but what they also get is a scenic lesson in South Carolina’s agricultural history.
Located on Black Highway just west of York, the open-air farmers market is the first phase of owner Roe Inman’s plan to create a living museum honoring family farmers. It’s a topic he knows well. Inman Farms has been in his family for five generations.
The market is housed in a 1950s peach-packing shed where Inman spent many a summer day working as a kid.
“I grew up selling produce off that peach shed with my brother,” he says. “They tell me it’s one of only two peach-packing sheds, with the original equipment in it, still standing in the state of South Carolina.”
The shed is a relatively recent addition to the property his great-great-grandfather, Elias Inman, purchased at auction in 1893. Actively farmed until the mid-1980s, the land has produced cotton, peaches, grapes and soybeans. Each generation of Inmans added acreage and buildings as they tried different crops and adopted new agricultural techniques. The surviving structures tell the story of how life changed for the family—and the tenant farmers who lived and worked alongside them—through the decades.
Whenever the market is open, visitors are welcome to pick up a brochure and take a self-guided walking tour of the farm, says marketing manager Signa Curry. Points of interest include the main farmhouse—a two-story Italianate home that was part of the original farm purchase—a small country store, the corn crib where the plow mules were fed, a restored tenant house and rolling fields that are just right for a family picnic.
“When people come here for the tour, we encourage them to pack a lunch, bring the Frisbee, bring the dog, bring the camera,” she says. “It’s free. Make a day of it.”
Since opening in 2013, the project has attracted enthusiastic local support. The long-term plan calls for creating museum-style exhibits inside the farm buildings, hosting school groups and community events, and bringing in costumed interpreters to demonstrate farming tools and techniques from decades past.
The idea of opening the farm to guests came to Roe Inman a few years ago as he went about restoring the structures scattered around the property. The work brought back vivid memories from his youth and fueled his passion to honor the legacy of family farming.
Turning the peach shed into a farmers market seemed like the logical place to start retelling the stories of South Carolina’s agricultural past while also supporting today’s family farmers, he says.
“I spent a good bit of my time and money fixing it up because I didn’t want it to fall in, and then I decided I’d love to see it put to good use,” Inman says. “I love that all of my effort in the restoration of this farm can be used in a way that can benefit the community.”
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The Market at Inman Farms is located at 1101 Black Highway (S.C. 5), one mile west of the York city limits.
Hours: Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., from May to October. The market will also be open on Wednesdays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. between May 14 and June 4, and again from August to October. Updates on weekday hours and special events will be posted at facebook.com/InmanFarmMarket.
Admission: Free.
Details: Visit the website or call (803) 207-6682.