Virginia Berry Farm, Inc.,  began in 1984 to produce and distribute container grown highbush blueberry plants  Much has changed much since that initial season. The scope of our operation has expanded greatly to include an extensive line of container grown small fruits, specialty fruits, native plants and fruit and during 2004 we introduced a line of decorative ornamentals.  Although people are accustomed to think of fruit plants as food production plants only, they are also very beautiful when they are flowering and during the season as the foliage changes.

The farm, initially a 2 acre clearing  done in 1910 by Maurice and Estelle Quarles, consisted of 160 acres  During the ensuing years many parcels were created for family and long-time employees, so the farm itself was reduced to a smaller size, largely pictured below.;  The remaining parcel, 90.4 acres,  was then purchased by Jane Warner and Bill Harwood in 1984. 

During it's early decades the farm was used as a produce farm, with many immigrants to our area from North Carolina beginning their days in Virginia on this farm or Magnolia Farm, our neighbor to the east.  For more than twenty years It was the custom of the Quarles family to have dances each Saturday night, a tradition which has endeared this farm to many.  You have to listen to a parade of grey-haired people, with the light of youth shinning in their eyes to truly grasp what this had meant to them.  Many marriages, which have produced literally hundreds if not thousands of people, were begun at these simple dances held in what is now our office (pictured below.).

In 1947 the Quarles succeeded in securing the contract to clear the power line right-of-ways for Rural Electric Association and our farm house, pictured above, became the first house wired for electricity under REA on the Eastern Seaboard.  The process of clearing the rights-of-way for REA became a business of operating sawmills for the family which, along with the real estate that accompanied this lumber business, sustained them to the end of their days in Caroline County.  We purchased the farm from Stella, daughter of the original owners,  when she was 76 and began to transform it into a wholesale production nursery.  Stella lived on the farm virtually all of her life from age 3, when the family moved into the house.

The original farm house now serves as our primary office.  We produce custom tags for the industry and a range of services and products which are unparalleled.  In spite of this we still think of ourselves as a family farm and of our customers as cousins.  We are all in the same business and our business is growing. 

In 1986-87 the "barn" of the farm (a classic Dutch barn design built to Virginia Polytechnic plans, pictured above across our lake) was transformed into a residence and personal office space by the former owners Bill Harwood & Jane Warner.  This building has proven to be a wonderful house to live in and is now the residence of nursery owner Scott Smythe.