Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve, a 501c3

Our long term goal is to establish a living history farm with a museum of mountain living during the 1800-1900 century, and to include a follk school that is affordable and accessible for working class people in this region.

Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. It is a 65 acre historic mountain farm preserved through a conservation partnership with the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee. Current Board Members include: Vera and Don Guise (founders), Terry and Niall Michelsen, Dan Pitillo, Tom Rodgers, Irene Hooper, Amy Ammons Garza, Jeff Gibbs, and Sunny Himes. Appalachian Homestead Farm & Preserve was founded by Don and Vera Holland Guise, and their son, Jeff Gibbs in 2004. In March 2005, the first parcel of Vera’s mother’s original mountain homestead was purchased with a conservation grant from a dedicated North Carolina conservationist with the provision that conservation easements would protect the land from future development, logging and destruction of native flora and fauna. The Farm works closely with its land trust partner, Land Trust for the Little Tennessee to ensure that the land is protected and preserved in perpetuity for future generations. Don Guise is a land steward of many years, retiring from the U.S. For several years Vera also assisted the National Park Service in organizing Friends of Parks groups across the country, marrying government agencies, park neighbors and the nonprofit sector into partnerships aimed at preserving our nation’s National Parks – often referred to as ‘the best idea we ever had’. Vera is a native North Carolinian, having grown up on the bottom 15 acres of this pie shaped mountain hardscrabble farm. She is a retired university professor and a veteran community organizer and nonprofit leader, having played a substantial role in the humanitarian treatment and rehabilitation of mental health patients (1960’s – 1980), and as a founder and organizer of services and advocacy for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and related disorders through the founding of the Alzheimer’s Association (1980-1990). She is now working on a historical novel about the many generations of mountain families who settled this region and worked the land. She and Don live in the new “old” house they built on Vera’s homestead, and enjoy their families, the constantly changing grandeur of the mountains, and their dog, Freckles.