Our Story

Roger and Judy Furrow are Roanoke natives and the owners of Hickory Hill Vineyards & Winery, with ties going back to the very beginnings of the lake and raising a family around it for over 40 years. They achieved a life-long dream by retiring to Smith Mountain Lake, but their interests in grape growing and winemaking had begun in the 70’s.  

25 years ago, Roger and Judy planted the experimental 250 vine "Hickory Cove" vineyard on the side of the lake at the home of Alberta Furrow (Roger’s mother). The couple later purchased the nearby Tobe Scruggs farm and expanded the vineyard onto the "Hickory Hill" vineyard, now celebrating it's 16th year of commercial grape production and it's 8th commercial vintage as a winery.

Roger and Judy have two children, Tad and Wendy, that share in their vineyard & winery dream.  Tad, his wife Rebecca and their sons, Ryan & Nathan, live and work in the Greensboro NC area, visiting often to help with harvest and festivals.  Wendy, her husband Donald and their daughter Tura live and work at the farm as winemaker, vineyardist and helper, respectively, all three under Roger and Judy's watchful eye.

Danny Johnson, of Johnson's Orchard & Peaks of Otter Winery, the first and biggest winery in Bedford, was immeasurable help to us in setting up a production winery. We would not be as successful as we are today without the assistance of the Peaks of Otter Winery along the way. By engaging local officials, tourism boards and county agencies to embrace wineries in the area years ago, all Bedford's wineries owe him a debt of gratitude. The Johnson's paved the way for us with foresight, wisdom and kindness. Thank you Danny.

Our vine's roots go dam deep

The Furrows are Roanoke natives going back generations. Roger Furrow was born on the side of Chaos Mountain, near Boones Mill. After graduating from Virginia Tech, Roger served in the Air Force and married Judy Weaver, the daughter of a Clover Creamery milkman in Roanoke. His engineering degree and career eventually took them to Detroit, South Carolina and Greensboro before settling back in this area.

Roger's father, Roy Furrow, was a WWII vet with a talent for steel engineering. Roy's work eventually landed him at a new dam project on the Roanoke River. He worked on the giant crane gondolas that carried the cement over the river to build the Smith Mountain Lake dam.

Roger occasionally helped his father at the construction site.

As the dam neared completion, Roy and Alberta Furrow decided to sell their small vacation cabin on distant Bugg's Island (Kerr Lake) and buy lake property here, nearer their Roanoke home. He found 3 acres on the Radford Ford Road at the 800' level in the planned lake zone. 

Roy and Alberta built a deck-wrapped vacation cabin there as the lake filled up to meet them.

The early lake years were far different than today's busy shoreline.

Roger & Judy and their children, along with the rest of the extended Furrow family, began to weekend at his parent's cabin over the summers. They built a houseboat and would anchor the days away in quiet coves, often never seeing another soul on the water. Their children Wendy and Tad grew up in this environment, coming out to the lake most every weekend in the summers.

Hickory Cove Vineyard

Roger experimented making homemade wine in the '70s and enjoyed it, but he wanted to try his hand at actually growing the grapes instead of buying juice. After studying hard, planting hobby grapes near their North Carolina home and talking with many of Virginia's winemakers of the time, they decided to plant a larger experimental vineyard at the lake.

From 1982-1984 they planted 250 vines of several grape varieties on the side of the lake and joined the fledgling Virginia wine industry. During the '80s the Hickory Cove Vineyard was mostly a hobby, but they were studious with what classes and help VT offered and what other state winemakers would pass on. They slowly learned how to grow vinifera, how to make wine, and what it would take to make it work as a business.

By the late '80s they had decided to make the vineyard and possibly a winery their retirement goal. They had discovered their Hickory Cove Vineyard space was too small to support a true commercial venture, and so they began to look for additional property at the lake to expand production.

Radford Ford History

The lake area where our vineyard is located is known as Radford. This land first belonged to the Browns, William & Sally. They received the land patent from the King of England for all the land on the Bedford side of the then Staunton River in this area, including a ford across the river passable by horse and even wading in dry summer months. In 1782 William Brown sold the land to Robert Radford, who gave the ford and the immediate area the name it now has.

 
National Archives map 1864

In 1789 Aquilla Mitchell, bought the land from Robert Radford, and in 1808 passed in onto her son, John Mitchell Sr. The Mitchell family owned over 600 acres in the Radford Ford area, including the land the vineyard is on now, and was instrumental in the creation of most of the first roads in this area of Bedford county. 

John Mitchell Sr had at least two sons, Stephen and Eldred, who bought property from their father in 1820 and 1821 and increased their land holdings to include the undershot-wheel Mitchell's Mill on the river side at what is now Village East, across the road from the vineyard. The Mitchell's eventually owned thousands of acres of land and 3 mills, from what is now the SML Yacht Club down past Radford Ford to Merriman's Run in their day. The local families of Mitchell, Franklin and Lynch intermingled by marriage and the various land plots changed hands frequently.

   
USGS map from 1887

In 1837 Henry W. Franklin bought the land the vineyard is on from the Mitchell's, as well as the mill down the creek from the vineyard. That mill then became known as Franklin's Mill.

 
USGS map from 1902

The Franklins held the property and increased their farm land through the 1850s, eventually selling off the mill in 1875 to Thomas Mitchell. Most locals still remember the creek mill as Mitchell's Mill thanks to Thomas and the area's memorable social events hosted there during the early 1900s.

 
USGS map from 1928

The farm property the vineyard now stands on was passed from Henry Franklin to John C Franklin in 1875.

The Lynchs, part of the same family that gave rise to Lynchburg, owned the land just to the north of Radford Ford, now known commonly as High Point. They operated a large quarry that supplied Greenstone (a form of local soapstone) to many parts of SW Bedford county. The quarry became a cove when the lake was flooded. There are stories of the mule teams that pulled wagons loaded with stone blocks up the Radford Ford Road.

It was in the 1880s that the town of Big Lick changed it's name to Roanoke, and the Staunton River was renamed the Roanoke River.

 
USGS map from 1942

John Franklin passed away in 1888. A local character named B.F.T. (Tom) Ayers owned a great deal of property along the Radford Ford Road, and acquired the vineyard property in 1890 from the estate of the late Franklin. He in turn sold the vineyard property to the widow Edda Ayers Cundif in 1923.

Berry, Tom and Martha Scruggs immigrated from Germany into Franklin county in the 1700s, and gave the Scruggs name to that well known road and community near Westlake.  Berry's grandson, Tobe Scruggs, came across the river and married Edda Ayers Cundif in 1923, and she had the current farmhouse built for $500 as a wedding present.

 
Current GIS map

Edda passed away, and Tobe was a familiar and colorful fixture to those passing along the Radford Ford Road. When the lake was formed the dead end road was renamed from Radford Ford Road to Hickory Cove Lane, and Tobe remained in the old farmhouse until he was 97 years old. The house had a hand dug well and still lacked indoor plumbing.

 
Current GIS map

Roger and Judy Furrow would drive past Tobe's farmhouse to get to Roger's parents lake cabin further down, so from the 1960's on they grew familiar with Tobe sitting on his farmhouse front porch waving at passer-bys.

 
Current GIS map

When the Furrows began looking for additional farmland near their lake house for an expanded vineyard, the Scruggs farm was the perfect choice for them.

 
Current GIS map

Hickory Hill Vineyards

There is a saying "You don't get to be the best because you are the oldest, you get to be the oldest because you are the best."

The Furrows purchased the Scruggs farm in 1991, and expanded the Hickory Cove vineyard onto it. Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon and Vidal Blanc grapes were planted in 1992, and are now the oldest producing vineyards in Bedford county. During the 90s the grapes were almost all sold to Stonewall Vineyards & Winery in Appomattox.

With the grapes growing well the Furrows finally retired and moved to the farm full time. They turned their attention to the old Farmhouse, and it proved to be a "This Old House" style project. As the vineyard investment began to earn some money they built on, removing the sleeping porch on the farmhouse and turning it into a winery and tank room. Water, sewer and power turned out to be a bit of a problem, and eventually the entire house had to be raised up on blocks and the crumbling foundation underneath replaced to make the house useable as a business. The option to tear the old house down and build a spanking new tasting room may have appealed to some, but the Furrows liked the country charm and local history of the farmhouse as well as the start-small & grow-slow financials. They dedicated the sweat equity to work with it.

Throughout the '90s son Tad and daughter Wendy joined their parents in every aspect of the vineyard and winery work. Tad proposed to his wife Becky, and later Donald also proposed to Wendy in the idyllic setting of the family vines. 

Daughter Wendy and her husband Donald both worked together in IT careers at a Greensboro company, and when they began seriously assisting with vineyard work on weekends they fell in love with it. They began paying off bills & building up savings; planning a move up to the vineyard and giving farming a serious career effort. 

Roger & Judy began building a new house on the farm, leaving the old farmhouse itself for the winery & tasting room.

Through all the years and challenges, Roger & Judy continued making wine, perfecting their skills and learning the easy and hard lessons. Many of the current wine recipes come from these '90s experiments; you can view a display of the many family bottles from this early period in our tasting room.

In January of 2000 Roger and Judy finally completed their new house at the farm, and applied for the winery license for the farmhouse. Hickory Hill Vineyards became Virginia's 75th winery and the 2nd winery in Bedford county, with the 2001 harvest being our first commercial vintage. 

The tasting room gift shop opened the following year.

In 2002 Wendy took an offered severance package from her downsizing employer to join her parents and focus on wine making. Donald continued at his job there until 2005 when he too joined full time and took over the vineyard work.

In 2006 the new winery building was begun, a simple 30 x 50 steel building next to the farmhouse, and in 2007 the old farmhouse was renovated and given over completely to the tasting room and gift shop.

Our story cannot be complete without mention of the Harvesters. These volunteers are family and dear friends that for over a decade have helped us pick the grapes, pour tastings at festivals, bottle wine or simply watch Tura as we work. Without them this dream would not be possible, and it is a joy to share the success with them.