April 11, 1989

...Ed Scruggs, Everett Roach, Richard T. Smith and others took the $2,500 and made a deal with Jennings Trout Farm at Cashiers, N.C. for 12,500 rainbow trout fingerlings, 2 to 4 inches long. Jennings was so impressed by the project that he threw in an additional 2,500 brown trout fingerlings and agreed to deliver them all to Atlanta...

November 2019

written by MARK ESSIG

Photos by JACK SOROKIN

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A Scion of a Pittsburgh oil family, Dick Jennings fell for the Smokies during childhood summers spent on land his grandfather owned in Cashiers. While studying at Yale just after World War II, he heard the mountains calling, dropped out of school, and started farming trout on his grandfather’s property.

After two decades in Cashiers, Jennings spotted a fresh opportunity in Haywood County, on a sliver of land along the Pigeon River’s west fork. It was — and remains — a noisy spot, thanks to the roar of water pouring over the spillway of Lake Logan Dam and crashing down 60 feet into the riverbed...

January 1, 2018

Just 20 minutes southeast of Waynesville, 16-acre Lake Logan is nestled in the Pisgah National Forest. Lake Logan is a privately held lake and no motorized boats are allowed on its surface. There is no industry or agriculture upriver from the lake—only mountains. Lake Logan is filled with cool, clear, clean mountain water, and it is in this water that the Eason family, owners of Sunburst Trout Farm, raise their fish.

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“We pull water directly from the bottom third of the lake and put it into our raceway system,” says Wes Eason, co-owner with Ben and Anna Eason of Sunburst Trout Farm. Raceways are rectangular, concrete pools with 6,000 gallons of water...

November 7, 2017

by Barton Seaver

...and Sunburst Trout Farms in North Carolina, whom I largely credit with reintroducing the Rainbow Trout to fine cuisine. Their version is orange fleshed, a result fo the carotenoids in the fish's diet.

pg.367

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May 11, 2020

ASAP Growing Local Radio Broadcast

2020 was going to be a big year for Sunburst Trout Farms in Waynesville, North Carolina. The family-run business has over 70 years of experience raising and selling rainbow trout, and recently leased an additional farm to meet the growing demand for its trout and trout products. 

Then the COVID-19 crisis hit... 

August 2, 2018

Sunburst Trout Farms is celebrating 70 family grown years in business, and 55 years in Haywood County as well as the first ever #NationalRainbowTroutDay on August 2, 2018. Founded in 1948 by Dick Jennings Jr. in Cashiers, NC, Sunburst began as Cashiers Valley Trout Farm, and was the first commercial trout farm in the southeast. As the operation grew larger he looked to Haywood County for its clean water and inviting locals. In 1963 he moved the production of trout to Canton, right below Lake Logan, and changed the name to Jennings Trout Farm... 

December 7, 2017

While most agricultural concerns are still kept in the family, the close-knit farming community is becoming increasingly social. By snapping, posting and sharing, farmers are telling their unique stories and building relationships with potential customers from coast to coast...

August 8, 2016

The world is full of fantastic, delicious, and innovative jerky. That’s why we’ve tasted some of the best, and here’s what we found.

The 2nd Annual Juried Awards competition rewards the Top Artisan Jerky creations of the Year.

Products from the around the globe are entered into this competition, and are sent to a select panel of food & wine media and industry judges located throughout North America. This panel tastes,  reviews and votes on which they consider to be the “Top Artisan Jerky of the Year.”

May 2020

Written by Bill Kopp  |  Photos by Anthony Harden

The venture that Jennings launched has grown into a thriving enterprise that continues to this day. A Western North Carolina family-owned and operated business, now led by brothers Wesley and Benjamin Eason (Jennings’ grandsons), Sunburst Trout Farms celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2018...

June 28, 2018

The world is full of fantastic, delicious, and innovative jerky. That’s why our panel of experts tastes each year some of the best, and ranks and celebrates what they find.

The Annual Jerky Awards competition rewards the Top Jerky creations of the Year...

November 23, 2017

“A Chef's Life,” the docu-series featuring chef Vivian Howard and her restaurant, Chef & Farmer, is back this fall for its fifth season.

This year sees Howard adjust to life as her new cookbook debuts at No. 5 on the New York Times best-sellers list. It also has the itinerant chef traveling to Western North Carolina, where she visits Haywood County's Sunburst Trout Farm...

July 8, 2016

The third generation family-owned and operated business Sunburst Trout Farms has officially outgrown itself, moving operations from its previous location in Bethel to a 12,000 square foot facility in Waynesville....