1960: A Garden Center is added to the store. 1962: Fruit Baskets are added to the Produce Department, featuring Adams own apples. 1965: Adams Landscaping opens behind the store.

Sons Ralph and Donald take over the business, building a small store with large, garage-style doors to give it an open-air market feel, offering local milk and eggs in addition to the produce they grow. Fresh Christmas trees are also now available.

Because the Adams were farmers first and retailers second, they relied on the growing season for their business at first; after the fall harvest of primarily apples and pumpkins they would ready the farm for winter and close the stand until spring. They begin staying open year-round in 1956, at which time they start buying […]

Ralph builds a farmstand on the front of the property and puts up a wooden sign: Adams’ Market. Later this would be changed to Fairacre Farm. (He did not want to include the family name on the sign since it seemed boastful). They also give customers the option to pick their own raspberries and strawberries […]

Ralph and Mary start their roadside business, selling directly from the barn to passers by and neighbors on the dirt road that ran past the farm (now Rte 44/Dutchess Turnpike). They were successful even in the midst of the Great Depression. By now the couple had four children: Diana, Dorothy, Ralph and Donald PHOTO: (L)Ralph […]

Ralph A. and Mary Rogers Adams purchase 50 acres of farmland on Pleasant Valley Road (now Route 44, Dutchess Turnpike) in Poughkeepsie, NY

Ralph A. Adams, left, taking apples to the central market, 1920s The farm is successful enough to sell produce at a central market in Clinton Square in Poughkeepsie, where it is bought by local grocery stores