Award-Winning Olive Farm Hits the Market for $6.7 Million—Bringing a Slice of the Mediterranean to Rural Georgia

A rare opportunity to own a slice of Mediterranean-style paradise has cropped up in rural Georgia, where a breathtaking 282-acre olive farm is on the market for the first time in more than 170 years.

The expansive property, which has been in the same family since 1954, is listed for $6.65 million—but with that price comes not only the potential to venture into a fascinating new industry, but also the chance to experience a lifestyle unlike many others in the U.S.

Known as Woodpecker Trail Olive Farm, the enormous plot of land—home to a picturesque farmhouse surrounded by 11,000 olive trees—has been producing award-winning olive oil for several years now, having been repurposed by its current owners, Tracy and Curtis Poling, when they took it over.

The Glennville, GA, land has been in Tracy’s family since 1854, passed down from generation to generation, until she inherited it from her father. However, before Tracy and Curtis took it on, the property was used to grow pine timber.

When it fell into their hands, the couple decided there was ample opportunity to do something a bit different.

“Curtis is a big researcher, so he started researching what would grow here besides pine timber, because that’s what we have been doing in the past,” Tracy Poling tells Realtor.com®. “That’s what led us down the olive tree path.”

In 2015, the couple planted their first olive trees, and four years later, they completed their first harvest.

“When we started, we started with 4,000 [trees], and I put up 2,000 more, then I put 1,000 more,” Curtis Poling jokes. “The number keeps changing because I keep adding more, and I can’t stop.”

Now, after almost 10 years, the duo have become the producers of some of the finest olive oil in the world. Mr Poling reveals: “We’re one of a few places on the East Coast where the Mediterranean meets the East. We’re an award-winning olive oil grower and producer. It was considered one of the world’s best olive oils.”

And, the couple notes, there is room for plenty of growth beyond what they have already achieved, thanks—at least in part—to the quality of the soil.

“All the soil on this farm will support olive trees,” Mr. Poling explains. “We have 11 different varietals from different parts of the world, and they’re all doing very well.”

But olive trees aren’t new to the area.

“For about 400 years, the Spanish were very successful planting olive trees up and down the coast of Georgia,” he says. “Then when the English came, they experimented with it and further expanded. So, olive trees are not a risky business here. It’s just a matter of jumping in and get involved.”

Everything the farm produces is milled and bottled by hand. Curtis says he is willing to pass his knowledge along to the new owners.

“All they have to do is sit down with me and go through it all,” he insists. “I could teach them all this.”

The couple lives in a 1,676-square-foot farmhouse on the property.

“It’s a red-brick ranch house built in 1962 with three bedrooms, two baths,” Mrs. Poling says, adding that everything in the house is in good shape. “There is always room for changes, but we don’t want to do anything because the next person might want to do something completely different.”

An office building is near the house along with two barns and the bottling room.

Everything conveys with the sale.

“Tracy’s been twisting my arm to even sell it, because I really didn’t want to do this,” Mr. Poling says with a laugh. “It’s like having your own state park in your own backyard.”

“We want someone else to enjoy it,” his wife adds. “We don’t have any other family that’s interested in pursuing this, so it’s a good time for a nice younger family with lots of kids and relatives who want to do this.”

He says the olive oil business won’t make someone rich, but it’s fulfilling.

“This is a lifestyle,” he says. “This is definitely a much more comfortable lifestyle than it is to live in a city. This is a place to slow down and still enjoy life.”

Until someone buys the farm, the Polings will continue to tend to their trees and produce olive oil while teaching visitors about the process.

“I take them out on a tour. They love me, and they love the farm. They’re connected to it, and that’s the part that I really love,” Mr. Poling says, while his wife calls him a bit of a celebrity.

“People enjoy,” he says. “They put their phones down, and they actually talk. They put their politics aside and everything, and I love it. [The olive tree is] considered a tree of peace and a tree of life. I feel very proud of what we’ve done here.”