Town of Cary
Home MenuGood Hope Farm
Good Hope Farm is a community-supported urban farm supporting the local food system through events and workshops, farm-grown produce, and resources for new farmers. Our mission is to marry Cary's agricultural past with an innovative future by connecting beginning farmers to affordable farmland and our community to local food.
Note: Good Hope Farm is only open to the public during events and programs due to the sensitivities involved with organic farming and historic preservation.
Events
Volunteer and Learn
Eat Local
Plant and Grow
About the Farm
In 2008, Cary purchased a historic family farmstead located in the Carpenter Historic District with a goal to keep the property in agricultural production. A coalition of four nonprofit organizations responded and pooled their resources in the name of a comprehensive shared vision best described as an incubator farm project.
To accomplish this mission, one of the partners, Piedmont Conservation Council, holds an eight-year lease with Cary that delineates project management responsibilities for both parties. PCC also employees a farm manager who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the incubator farm. The three other nonprofits, The Conservation Fund, North Carolina Community Development Initiative, and Conservation Trust for North Carolina support the project with funding and collaboratively they employee one project manager to handle grant writing, marketing, and other big picture duties. Cary supports the project with a project manager that handles infrastructure installation, renovations, Cary programs and services at the facility (municipal water, electric service, curbside garbage collection) and generally maintains the Town’s best interests by executing the lease and all it entails.
History of the Property
Established in 1910 by C.F. and Mallie Maynard, the property where Good Hope Farm now stands passed through several members of the Jones family before being purchased by Allie Martin and Annie Howard in 1933. The Howards proceeded to raise five children and substantial crops of brightleaf tobacco on their family farm for the next 65 years. Cary recognized the inherent and unique value of this property as an intact working farm that looks and feels very much like stepping back in time. The property includes a farmhouse, multiple tobacco barns, tool sheds, and a ham house as well as twenty acres of farmland. By preserving and restoring the buildings, Cary is establishing a facility that will connect the community with our agricultural past well into the future.