How It All Started

A man with a dream, Grandpa Oral Wallace bought an apple orchard with a two room house on November 6, 1928. He started making apple cider and selling it at his new produce stand called "Shady Nock". Then he built an underground still hidden in the barn and started suppling hard cider.  In 1931 after hearing HWY 68 was going to be paved th

A man with a dream, Grandpa Oral Wallace bought an apple orchard with a two room house on November 6, 1928. He started making apple cider and selling it at his new produce stand called "Shady Nock". Then he built an underground still hidden in the barn and started suppling hard cider.  In 1931 after hearing HWY 68 was going to be paved the house was added onto so there would be a room to rent. The wood that was left over from the house was used to build a small country store (14'x14') called Apple Valey. Then  he open up an auto camp with small zoo. Oral was a musician, so he performed for the guest to.

In that small store they had a chair where Oral would cut hair, plus a four seat diner where they served chicken dinners.   Family folk lore has Bonnie and Clyde staying in the "Apple Valley's" room for rent in 1932. Clyde left a shotgun behind.  Then on  March 24, 1939 Gulf gas was added. The Apple Valley store/gas station was open to ev

In that small store they had a chair where Oral would cut hair, plus a four seat diner where they served chicken dinners.   Family folk lore has Bonnie and Clyde staying in the "Apple Valley's" room for rent in 1932. Clyde left a shotgun behind.  Then on  March 24, 1939 Gulf gas was added. The Apple Valley store/gas station was open to everyone during the Jim Crow days, causing problems with the county. Store/gas station closed down when Oral died on February 28, 1964. Grandma Myrtle Wallace went back to selling stuff on the produce stand until 1988.

Then in 2005, a change blew in. After twenty years in Hollywood as a SAG/AFTRA actor, standup comic, puppeteer, circus clown Keith Holt came back to town to claim his Grandparents old homestead with two truck loads of toys with a dream.     He came back only to create a 100'X140' Toyland and restore the old Gulf gas station, not a folk ar

Then in 2005, a change blew in. After twenty years in Hollywood as a SAG/AFTRA actor, standup comic, puppeteer, circus clown Keith Holt came back to town to claim his Grandparents old homestead with two truck loads of toys with a dream.     He came back only to create a 100'X140' Toyland and restore the old Gulf gas station, not a folk art environment. But the powers that would be had different plans for Keith.  So began the wacky punny folk art gardens  to get around the county's plans to build a subdivison on his grandparent's homestead !  “Out of his broken dreams an unusual off-beat historic folk art roadside attraction came about as a statement to the man, “Hillbilly Garden”.