The roots of our farm run all the way back to Henderson Johnson, Mr. James Weeks’ great grandfather. In 1930, Henderson set out to establish a new dairy called Johnson’s Dairy located in Summit, Kentucky. His dairy focused on milking cows and sending the milk to a pasteurizing plant. Henderson’s son, Kenneth Mason Johnson, took the framework his father had built and expanded the business even more. Mason, as he was known to his friends, was a board member for the local bank, a community leader, and an entrepreneur.
In 1956, Mason began to develop one of the largest independent dairies at the time. It was named Johnson’s All Star Dairies. You may notice that name on the picture above! Johnson’s All Star Dairies officially opened in 1959 as a place to process raw milk and distribute it and other dairy products to retailers across Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia. Kenneth created the artwork shown above and many more comics for the farm.
Unfortunately, Mason passed away in 1968 leaving the business to his wife, Grace Johnson and brother Paul Johnson. The dairy farm thrived under their watch until Grace passed away in 1979. At that point, Mr. Weeks’ great uncle took the operation of the dairy until 1990 when it was bought by Borden. Borden was buying many different independent dairies at the time along with Johnson’s All Star Dairies. That marked the end of the story for Johnson’s Dairies.
In 2015, James Weeks, having farming in his blood, dreamed of developing his own farm on a small piece of property he recently acquired. He began by fixing up the barn. That simple pole barn was the nucleus of something greater. James and Tammy Weeks worked together to create a farm, but they were missing one vital part, a name.
One morning, James was sitting on the porch contemplating the name for his dream farm. The beautiful sunrise sparked a thought. He didn’t want to just call it Sunrise Farms, and he wanted to find a way to highlight that it was a new farm in the community. After a few variations, he finally had it, “Nu Sunrise Farms”. The Nu comes straight from the goats themselves. Their breed is named Nubian. The name stuck. Nu Sunrise Farms officially opened to the public in 2016. Our new logo proudly pays homage to the original art created by James’ grandfather.
Since then, the farm has been subject to many improvements by adding different products and produce available. Nu Sunrise Farms has become the home to many animals, many great memories, and many hands on learning experiences.
Please feel free to scroll through our pictures of the past! Just scroll down to the pictures below.
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