If you drive NC Highway 61 south of I-40/85, you have probably seen the construction on the hill at Peacehaven Community Farm. Who is it for, and will a Whitsett family with no connection to the farm ever have a reason to go inside?
Peacehaven's own planning documents answer that, and they answer it yes. The building is Peacehaven's new community center. Its earliest plan already set aside a café, fitness memberships, coworking space and a hall for rent for people from the surrounding community. The building has also grown with each version of the plan. It is now 23,000 square feet, and opening is targeted for mid-2027.
The Farm Behind the Fence Line
Peacehaven sits at 1458 NC Highway 61 on 89 acres. It was founded in 2007 as a nonprofit farm community for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. According to Business North Carolina, cofounder Susan Elliott found the site off N.C. 61 when it was an 89-acre former farm listed for sale by a developer whose plans had fallen through. Peacehaven opened a small home in an old farmhouse on the property in 2014. It later added day services and a small country store and produce stand, staffed in part by people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
CEO Phelps Sprinkle summed up the organization's purpose for that same Business North Carolina story: "What we're doing here is solving for isolation." The community center is how Peacehaven plans to do that at a larger scale.
A Plan That Kept Getting Bigger
Peacehaven's original case statement for the project described a smaller building on a faster schedule. Its first phase was a $12.5 million campaign for an 18,000-square-foot center, and the timeline showed a 2025 opening.
Here is how the building has been described since then:
| Source and date | Size of the center | Opening |
|---|---|---|
| Peacehaven case statement, earlier plan | 18,000 sq ft | 2025 |
| EdNC, October 2025 groundbreaking coverage | About 20,000 sq ft | Not stated |
| Business North Carolina, February 2026 | 22,000 sq ft | 2027 |
| Peacehaven campaign page and O.Henry, fall 2026 | 23,000 sq ft | Mid-2027 |
EdNC reported that ground was broken on October 19, 2025. The campaign grew along with the building. The goal is now $23.5 million, under the name Different Together. It covers the community center, a building for farm operations and programs, an adult respite home and the supporting infrastructure. Besides the center itself, Phase 1 includes an event lawn, a teaching greenhouse, and new roads, water and sewer service across the property.
Who Is Building It, and How It Got Paid For
A building this size on a rural stretch of Highway 61 needed utilities first. In 2023 the state awarded Greensboro $1.5 million to extend utilities to the Peacehaven property. Sprinkle told O.Henry that the award "made our vision even more realistic and led to real fundraising success from both the private and public sectors."
The biggest gift so far came from Trillium Health Resources. According to OPEN MINDS, Trillium committed $10 million in July 2026 to support Meg's House, the adult respite home, including a $3 million matching-grant initiative.
The general contractor is Blum Construction, and Watson Electrical announced in December 2025 that it had won the electrical contract. Carmina Wood Design lists the community center and the respite home among its current work.
As of mid-October 2026, Peacehaven's construction-update page said the campaign had reached 93% of its fundraising goal. O.Henry reported that the Harvest Celebration on Sunday, October 25, was planned to mark the end of the current capital campaign and look ahead to the next phase.
The Rooms Planned for People Outside the Farm
This is where the building matters to the rest of Whitsett. Peacehaven's case statement names several spaces meant for people who neither live at Peacehaven nor attend its programs:
- A café where residents and "people from the broader community" share meals. The food is grown on site and prepared in a commercial kitchen by staff of differing abilities.
- An adaptive fitness center that serves residents and offers memberships to the broader community.
- Coworking space for residents and community members, which is also meant to bring in revenue.
- A social hall for Peacehaven events, workshops and gatherings, "available for rental for meetings, retreats, weddings, and more."
That list comes from the earlier 18,000-square-foot plan, so treat it as Peacehaven's stated intent, not a set of finished policies. Peacehaven hasn't named a café operator, and it hasn't announced membership pricing or rental terms. Even so, the newer descriptions keep the same idea and add to it. The current campaign page lists the café, the adaptive fitness center, a social hall, coworking spaces and a recording studio. O.Henry's October 2026 feature describes a coffee shop and café, coworking and maker spaces, traditional and adaptive fitness facilities, classrooms, a pottery studio and a library. It also describes a banquet hall and commercial kitchen that "can host weddings, conferences and instruction."
Cory Phillips, Peacehaven's senior director of brand and experience, put it plainly to O.Henry: "What we're building is for everybody, not just for people with disabilities."
One Room Started With a Resident's Podcast
One feature shows how ideas make it into the building. According to O.Henry, the podcast studio was inspired by Jeff, a Peacehaven resident who hosts The Jeff Show on Spotify. Sprinkle said Jeff also helped shape the studio. Jeff found that Elon University, a longtime Peacehaven partner, has a school of communications, and he arranged for the group to tour its facilities. At the end of the tour, the university's leaders said they would be glad to help however they could.
"More intersections for folks to hang out, make a friend and be a friend," Phillips told the magazine about the studio. The café, gym and hall are planned as more of those intersections, open to neighbors.
What Is Open Before the Doors Are
With opening targeted for mid-2027, the center is still a construction site. The farm already has several ways in, though, and none of them require a family connection:
- Tours and group visits. Peacehaven welcomes visitors but asks individuals and groups to arrange a tour ahead of time by emailing [email protected], so don't plan on dropping in.
- Community workdays. Peacehaven held its first community workday in 2009. At a recent one described by O.Henry, volunteers from Freeman's Grub & Pub on Spring Garden Street and students from Grimsley High School weeded gardens, trimmed trees and installed mailboxes.
- The Thursday pop-up in Greensboro. Every other Thursday, participants in Peacehaven's RISE and SHINE programs bring farm produce to a pop-up market and coffee gathering at First Baptist Church on Friendly Avenue.
- The online Mercantile. Peacehaven Goods has a Fall 2026 collection that includes a pumpkin trio, apparel and honor cards.
- The Harvest Celebration. This year's celebration ran from 2 to 5 p.m. on October 25, with live music, an old-fashioned apple-cider press, games and activities for all ages, according to the Greensboro Chamber's listing. O.Henry reported that about 600 people came the year before.
Peacehaven hasn't posted public hours for the on-farm country store, and its events calendar has no November or December dates yet. A quick email before you drive over is the easiest way to know what's happening.
What Comes After the Community Center
The community center is the first of three phases. Phase 2, targeted for late 2029, calls for housing for 200 to 250 people with and without disabilities, plus shared commons, walking and rolling paths, and outdoor gathering spaces. Phase 3, targeted for 2030 to 2031, adds a health center focused on intellectual and developmental disabilities and an arts center with a makerspace.
Before any of that, in mid-2027, the building on the hill is scheduled to open with a café, a gym, coworking desks and a hall that Peacehaven has long said it would open to the community.
Our family team follows changes like this in eastern Guilford County because they shape what everyday life looks like here. If you'd like to talk about Whitsett, or about anything happening along Highway 61, Headen Homes is glad to help. Let's Take the Next Step.
