Farming in Virginia

About Us

Growing Health

We know that food grown on healthy land with healthy farming is healthy food. We act as stewards of this land, caring for its health to support yours.

A Family Tradition

Our family grew up on the land of Farming in Virginia. Our land in Alleghany county originated from a 1000 acre land grant from the governor of Virginia to our great great great great great grandfather Joesph Pinnell. He was the first Methodist minister in the county in 1810. Combined we manage over 100 acres in Virginia on multiple farm locations. We are proud to grow the food that feeds your families.

Thank you for supporting this tradition and local farmers.

Future plans of Delivery or Pick-up

We soon hope to begin regularly add new pick-up sites and delivery times. Check to find a spot near you! If you have questions about delivery or pick-up options, drop us a line!

Joseph Pinnell's History in Alleghany County Va.

For fifty years Bishop Frances Asbury preached. (Began preaching at 22 yrs old in 1771)*** He traveled the largest and hardest circuits and received the smallest salary and suffered most in body of any bishop in the history of Methodism. He out did Wesley as a traveler, preaching almost daily, traveling in all a distance ten times the circumference of the earth. He held 224 conferences and ordained more than 4,000 ministers ***

When in this section Francis Asbury made his home in later years with the Rev. Joseph Pinnell, the first Methodist minister to locate permanently in Alleghany County in 1810. He lived in the Potts Creek section, but as we see later also served in what is now Covington. Pinnell or Pennell, was ordained by Bishop Asbury with Bishops Coke and McKendree.

The same issue of The Covington Virginian carries a letter written August 21, 1802 by Joseph Pinnell to his brother, William Pinnell. The letter was a sermon written on a day when rain had prevented the minister from preaching.

While the first Methodist services were no doubt held in private homes, the first public services in what is now Covington were held in the old log meeting house which once stood on Main Street, where Ritsch’s Cleaners is now located. This was built about 1779 and was used as a courthouse, barricade against Indians, school and church and general meeting house.

The first Methodist Church on record in Alleghany County was built on Lot 117, and recorded in 1829. Records in Granbery’s Historical File gave this description:
“In Index #1 (Only) 1822 19 1879. Deed Book #1, page 416, 1829, Lot 117, Covington original plat enclosed. James Merry Heirs to the trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church: Joseph Pennell, Henry Dressler, Elisha Knox, Jr., Charles Callaghan, Anthony Brunnemer, Charles Tolbert, and Moses Persinger.

Joseph Pennell was a music teacher and preacher. Pennell’s Chapel on Potts Creek was named for him. He is said by some to have gone far and near to preach without salary. He married into the Stull family.

Next to the earliest three white men in Alleghany County, Wright, Carpenter and Persinger, is said to have come to settle Charles (correction: Johann Peter) Dressler, Sr., father of Henry. The location of their home is not known though the presumption is, that an old orchard marks the site on Jackson River. Henry Dressler appears on the books for the first time as guardian for his younger brother and sisters. This was about 1822. From the family of Henry and his brother (Charles) all the Dresslers in the county are presumed to have descended.

Elisha Knox was a minister of the gospel, a land owner and patentee.

Charles Callaghan was one of the very wealthy Callaghan family whose tavern, at which Sam Houston’s father died when on a journey to the West, written by his biographer as “the friendly tavern of Callaghan”, must have been a good place to die as well as to live.

Anthomy Brunnemer was Scotch, ALL Scotch. He lived where today the Rayon powerhouse stands. He married his near neighbor, Miss Sively, daughter of the “millionaire” of the county, George Sively, Sr. Her brother Jonathan lived in the old log house standing today near the mouth of Potts Creek, occupied by a Mr. Tucker. Anthony Brunnemer was active in the political and social and church activities of his day.

Moses Persinger descended from the original pioneer, Jacob, who patented thousands of acres of land and settled on them before the Revolution. It is believed that the Persinger family (which man cannot be stated) operated a powder mill for the Revolutionary munitions supply. The Persinger family is one of three first coming to this county.

Charles Tolbert. Regretfully one must say that very little is known of Charles Tolbert, but at least he was a good Methodist and that is a worthy record to leave behind.

Lot 117 was on an extension of what is today Locust Street. No railway intervened and the Old Rogers Shop was nearby. It was later moved from the hill to where it is recalled on Bath Street. The Turnpike ran at the foot of Wills Hill and straightened out toward the mill site where McAllister and Bell’s mill stands today. Colored people live at this location now. The selection of this lot would show that the trustees had in mind the central location for its country members as well as the town membership.

The type of church erected on this lot is not know from authentic writings, but traditionally it was of logs and served as a “Meeting House” for many years.

Lot No. 117 was sold to Alexander Fleet on April 17, 1837. The trustees of the transfer were for the Methodist Episcopal Church, Moses Mann, Flenning Keyser, Jonathan Sively, Archibald Kincaid and Frank Stanley.

Presumably the next church was being built when Lot 17 was sold. It was not recorded, however, until January 15, 1840. This is reputed to have been a small brick church, and the lot, now vacant, is opposite Ritsch’s Cleaners and The Courtesy Store, on Main Street.

For fifty years Bishop Frances Asbury preached. (Began preaching at 22 yrs old 1771)*** He traveled the largest and hardest circuits and received the smallest salary and suffered most in body of any bishop in the history of Methodism. He out did Wesley as a traveler, preaching almost daily, traveling in all a distance ten times the circumference of the earth. He held 224 conferences and ordained more than 4,000 ministers ***

. . . . The population in 1840 was 776 whites of school age in the County and 88 pupils were enrolled in the five common schools. In 1843 the Board of School Commissioners was appointed and 13 schools were in operation, with a total of $243.33 spent for school expenses that year.

Religious services were firs held by the Presbyterians as early as 1775, and by the Methodists in 1784. The first Presbyterian Church was organized in 1819. The first Methodist preacher to settle in Alleghany County permanently was Joseph Pennell (sometimes spelled Pennell) in 1810. Pinnell’s Chapel on Potts Creek still stands to his memory. The Catholic religion was first started in Alleghany by a missionary, Father Walter, as early as 1758. It was at Low Moor that the first Catholic Church was built in 1822, Mount Carmen, by ________.

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