The History of McLaurin Farms

In 1928 Simon Peter “Pa Pete” McCormick, the great grandfather of Eddie McLaurin, acquired the land on which McLaurin Farms now sits. Simon was the grandfather of Eddie’s mother.

With more than 100 acres, Simon grew corn and had horses, cows, pigs, and chickens, and he made butter for all of the local residents. He did this all while holding down a 40-hour-a-week job for Southern Pacific Railroad.

Pa Pete died in 1952 and gifted the land in parcels to his children. Rufus McCormick (Eddie’s granddad) began raising cattle on his portion of the land while working full time at JP Stevens. He even built a house there with his wife and eventually had Eddie’s mom and her siblings.

Eddie saw his Papa Rufus raise cattle until 1986 when he decided to sell them because it had become unprofitable. Seeing this got Eddie thinking. He had always hoped to purchase the farm and keep it in the family, but what could he do with it? He did not want to farm the land, as that seemed fruitless.

So in 1991, the idea was born to open McLaurin Farms as a place people could visit with their families. Instead of growing food, Eddie would help people grow fond family “memories.”

Eddie envisioned different farm events built around holidays and the four seasons. He decided his anchor event would be called Woods of Terror because there were actually 26 graves on the family property that always made Eddie scared as a youngster. No one was allowed to play around that area, and all the graves were kept intact as they still are today. (Haunted? We’ll let you decide.)

Eddie then began opening the farm for one of their largest events: McLaurin Farms Country Christmas, and then the rest of the McLaurin Farms’ events followed.

Eddies’ dream was realized, and today more than 550,000 visitors grow their family memories at the farm Pa Pete and Papa Rufus once grew their own family memories. We hope you enjoy every moment with us on our beautiful property created just for you and yours.