W.Va. Farm Named One Of Top 100 Small Businesses In U.S.

A few years ago, Marsha Waybright and her husband were running their 400-acre Tucker-Randolph County farm and both were working outside jobs to make ends meet. Then they renovated an old home on the property, opened a bed-and-breakfast on their Laurel Fork Farm, and quickly realized guests were eager to learn more.  

“We were just living our lives like we always have been. We didn’t realize how popular our lifestyle would be to not only visitors but even local people want to come and see what we’re doing,” Waybright. “I would just be in the kitchen making something like jelly or jam and the guests wanted to join in and they wanted to learn from me. And so that’s kind of how everything started to really grow.”  

Waybright joined the local chamber of commerce. From there she was one of more than 12,000 applicants to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 CO-100 Top 100 Small Businesses in America. This month Laurel Fork Farm, which she founded, was recognized as one of the top 100 small businesses in the Champions of Adaptability category. 

“These businesses shine through their inspiring ideas and the ways they overcome challenges, enrich community impact, foster vibrant company cultures, and engage customers,” reads the Chamber’s announcement. 

Today, between Waybright, her husband and a family of homegrown entrepreneurs, the farm offers tours, classes, a gift shop, dinners, birds of prey demonstrations, fiber art products and educational workshops through the non-profit West Virginia School of Traditional Skills.  

“It’s very hard to make a living in the state of West Virginia, you know, especially if you’re a small farm,” said Waybright. “Those extra lines of revenue that we’ve created is what saved the farm.” 

Waybright said the farm is a way of life that offers lessons that extend far beyond the farm.  

“Whenever you’re passionate about what you do, that’s how you live a life you don’t need a vacation from. Follow your own passion,” she said. “If you live a life you don’t need a vacation from, that means that you enjoy your life so much that you’re not just working to look forward to that 10-day vacation that you may get once a year. You get up every morning and you’re excited about doing your daily routine, whatever that may be.” 

Click here for more information on Laurel Fork Farm.