In 1928, Ruben J. Fisher and his wife, Annie, settled near Greer. Following in their families’ footsteps, R.J. and Annie started their own peach orchard in the area surrounding their new home. Times were tough — it was the Great Depression — but the Fishers survived thanks to strong family values, a strong work ethic and community spirit.

New machinery and better production methods have been incorporated throughout the years, but these same core values have helped establish the Fisher name in Upstate South Carolina as a recognized leader in peach farming. Sons Charles and Tommy took over the family business in 1969 when R.J. retired. 

Today, the Fishers sell their fresh, juicy peaches at three locations in Greer. But it wasn’t always that way. In fact, it was 1968 when the Fishers got into the business of selling fresh peaches locally. Previously, the farm, like most peach orchards of the day, sold most of its peaches to canneries or packed them up for railroad shipment to distant markets. But that changed when a local cannery’s boiler blew up. 

“Papa called The Greenville News and they ran an ad in the paper for people to come out and pick their own peaches, and that was something people had never been able to do before,” Carol recalls. “The only thing that people were allowed into the orchards for was what was called gleaming. The pickers went through and picked, and then other folks were allowed in to gleam the trees — to get the leftovers. So people were only used to getting the last pick of the peaches. This was the first time there had ever been the choice of the whole orchard.”

What started out as a problem turned into a major success. People kept coming back, so Tommy and Charles developed pick-your-own orchards on Fisher Road, where they remain.