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Land farmed for more than century

John Wiley Adams assembled over 2,000 acres of land in rural Fayette County beginning in the 1870s. At that time the population of Fayette County was less than 8,500 people on over 1,000 farms.

For more than 130 years he and his wife Sarada, their children, their grandchildren and eventually their great-grandchildren farmed the property, raising both crops and cattle during various periods.

Numerous smaller farms were sold as Fayette began to grow in the late 1960s. Because of its size and central location between Fayetteville and Peachtree City, the Fayette County Board of Commissioners considered the property for several years for a possible reservoir site and zoned it for watershed purposes in 1973.

This had no immediate affect on the Adams Farm, as it was still in active agricultural use and not contemplating residential development.

Many potential buyers made offers to buy parts or all of the Adams Farm over the last 30 years, often with a view toward traditional residential subdivision development, but more increasingly toward more intense uses such as a television mast antenna farm, crushed gravel quarry, industrial park, commercial car dealerships, dog kennels, airport or mobile home park.

As Mrs. Shirley Horton, one of the owners, describes it, “We heard an idea a day for 30 years and this is the first we’ve even wanted to listen to.”

Although the land was worth more if sold for these other uses, the majority of the farm stayed in family hands while it was economically viable as a farming operation.

For five years no cattle have been present and the land has been used only to grow hay. Even this now is no longer in production.

Now the surviving heirs and direct descendants of John Wiley Adams have decided it is time to put the land to other use. They see that the county has a “bird-in-hand” opportunity to see the land master-planned and developed by the nation’s leader in the active adult community market. The owner applicants include Matt Rivers, Paul and Amy Lynn Rivers, Dr. Ben Rivers, Sarah A. Rivers; Shirley and Eugene Horton Shannon Horton, and Jan A. Trammell.

— Source: Pulte Homes marketing materials.