Mr. Jack’s Tree Farm looks to keep growing in Steele Creek

Casey Bolen’s idea of what Mr. Jack’s Tree Farm ought to be is part vision, part memory.

But it all begins with Jack.

Jack Turpin, Bolen’s grandfather, bought 120 acres just off of N.C. 49 in 1979. The site is down to 30 acres now, surrounded by homes and apartments, businesses and traffic signals. A short walk from the main entrance reveals a bustling corridor, foreign not just to the day Turpin bought it, but even to a decade ago when he turned it into a tree farm.

“It was all wooded area,” said Bolen, 22. “He cleared this area. He dug that lake.”

The tree farm houses hundreds of evergreen, ornamental and fruit tree varieties. The sounds of geese and ducks winging against the water and hide sounds of all the development nearby. Three homes sit on a small road, along with a small orchard and other evidence of the place’s namesake and his green thumbs.

The farm has a half dozen workers. Bolen worked with his grandfather three years before Turpin died in April from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

“I had an opportunity to inherit the business,” Bolen said. “He prepared me well.”

Which isn’t to say the transition was easy. Turpin had the home where, prior to his illness, family and others gathered for holidays or events. Losing his grandfather was a challenge for the young business owner. As was the working arrangement.

Bolen inherited the business, but another family member inherited the land. Bolen isn’t sure how the business remains without the land. Yet, like many parts of fast-growing Lake Wylie and Steele Creek, there is development pressure. It’s still uncertain whether the farm will remain one, or become apartments.

Bolen hopes to know in the next month or so whether he’ll be able to purchase the property from his relative and keep the farm intact.

The challenges before him aren’t slowing plans for the farm.

“Just adding to it,” Bolen said. “Just making things a little better.”

Kori Shannon worked in marketing in Charleston and Charlotte. That career path went outdoors when Bolen, who she knew through work, inherited the business. Now Shannon is looking to promote community events at Mr. Jack’s.

“It’s been fun,” Shannon said. “It’s kind of different to be from a city, on a farm.”

While everything she knew of Bolen was “totally farm unrelated” at first, Shannon jumped in to help preserve something she sees as still and beautiful among an ever busier world around it.

“You drive in any direction and you’re going to see a new development, and you’re not going to see any trees,” she said.

An Easter event, complete with picnic and egg hunt, is planned for March 26. Future plans could involve a nonprofit night, perhaps a fundraiser for ALS. Bolen envisions typical farm uses once the land issue is settled — hay rides and fruit picking in the fall, Christmas trees in the winter, weddings or small events in the spring. A place for new family traditions to bloom.

“This will be that place,” Bolen said.

There are hashtags and social media pages, a website and other additions far from his grandfather’s pen-and-paper records. But, Bolen sees the farm as a place people can come for a slow walk on a busy day. Maybe someday, to come fishing or to visit the orchard. A place for the only thing his grandfather loved nearly as much, and more, as the farm.

“His pride was his farm, but his passion was the people,” Bolen said. “He found a way to bless people.”

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Mr. Jack’s Tree Farm looks to keep growing in Steele Creek."