Annie's Legacy Homestead, LLC

Annie’s Legacy Homestead was established in 1992 when my wife Carlette and I moved to Chatham County North Carolina. The name honors, Annie Warren Smith, my maternal grandmother. Although Granny passed when I was 16 years old, her love of animals and of the land made a lasting impression on me. She and Granddaddy, owned a small farm in southern Guilford County (Greensboro area) for most of their adult lives. There they raised 6 wonderful children who in turn, produced 14 grandchildren, of which I was number 13.

Granny’s first love was her chickens. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting by her wood cook stove in the kitchen with a box full of baby chicks. She would take the biddies from the hen after they hatched and bring them into the kitchen to protect them from the natural predators. When they were fully feathered, and able to survive on their own, she returned them to the lot.

My love for horses began with Granny too. She let me ride the mule during tobacco harvesting time. After the tobacco sled was full of big green leaves, I would get on the mule’s back and it would pull the sled from the field to the tobacco barn where the leaves were tied and hung. I thought I was doing this great job of driving this mule. What I didn’t know was that when I wasn’t there the mule made the trip several times a day without a driver.

Granny also allowed me to help with all her chores. I learned to hand milk a cow, to gather the eggs, and to follow a Guinea hen to her nest without being detected. Granny thought that Guinea eggs, made her cake taste better. She also taught me that using an old light bulb as a nest egg would stop a thieving black snake from stealing eggs. It worked every time!

Annie Warren Smith’s love and the memories she made have inspired me to create a place, where our families can gather, where babies both the two-legged and the four-legged varieties can grow and thrive in harmony.

I pray that Carlette and I are given the opportunity to create precious memories for our own grandchildren just as my Granny did….