Real West Virginian of the Week: Maggie Blankenship brings Christmas magic home to West Virginia

By Hannah Yost, RealWV

For Maggie Blankenship, leaving West Virginia was once part of the plan. Coming home wasn’t.

But after years spent away from the Mountain State, she discovered that the place she had been so eager to leave was exactly where she wanted to build her future.

Today, the Putnam County native is bringing a little Christmas magic to her family’s third-generation farm through Old School Christmas Farm, an agritourism destination in Red House that offers visitors the opportunity to experience something they previously would have had to travel outside West Virginia to find: live reindeer.

For Blankenship, however, the farm is about much more than its newest four-legged residents. It’s about preserving family traditions and giving people a reason to slow down.

“I was 100% the girl that couldn’t get out of West Virginia fast enough when I graduated high school,” Blankenship said. “I moved to Kentucky and thought I would never look back.”

Blankenship grew up in Putnam County surrounded by agriculture. A third-generation farmer, she spent much of her childhood involved in 4-H and showing livestock at the Putnam County Fair. While attending Buffalo High School, she became the first female president of the school’s reestablished FFA chapter in 2012.

She later attended the University of Kentucky, where she studied agricultural communications, before moving to Illinois after graduation.

It wasn’t long before she began missing the mountains.

“I got ‘mountain sick’ and quickly moved back to the mountains of West Virginia in the spring of 2018,” Blankenship recalled.

After returning home, she began working at Gritt’s Farm as an events coordinator, eventually becoming the farm’s marketing and agritourism manager. The experience introduced her to a side of agriculture that would ultimately shape her career.

Blankenship later joined the West Virginia Department of Agriculture, where she now serves as assistant director of programs and events in the Business Development Division.

Her work includes overseeing agritourism initiatives and programs that connect consumers with West Virginia farmers.

“My passion is sharing farmers’ stories so they can make their next tractor payment, buy another piece of equipment, or sleep a little more sound at night,” Blankenship said.

But even as her professional career continued to grow, she missed the excitement of organizing events and creating experiences that brought people together.

That feeling eventually sparked an idea much closer to home.

In 2022, Blankenship and her family cleaned up the cattle barn on their property for her wedding reception. Seeing the barn transformed made her realize the farm could become something more.

“We could offer something unique, right here,” she recalled thinking.

Her family had always enjoyed traveling to experience different agricultural attractions, and one particular visit to a reindeer farm stayed with her.

After getting married, Blankenship shared the idea with her husband, Cody. The couple began researching reindeer farming and visiting other operations across the country.

“We thought, ‘Why can’t we offer something unique and new right here in West Virginia?'” Blankenship said. “So now we are building a destination, right here in the heart of Appalachia.”

That dream became Old School Christmas Farm, which Blankenship describes as West Virginia’s first reindeer farm.

The name itself carries two meanings.

The property sits near the former site of Confidence Elementary School, a landmark longtime residents still reference when giving directions. But “old school” also reflects the lifestyle Blankenship hopes to preserve.

For her, it means returning to a time when families spent more time together and everyday life moved a little slower.

“Our vision for the farm is to show guests about old school life,” she said. “How to spend time with family without distractions, how to grow and preserve your own foods, how to bring back skills and traditions our grandmothers had.”

At Christmas, that philosophy takes on an especially meaningful role.

Blankenship hopes the farm offers an alternative to the pressure that often accompanies the holiday season. Rather than rushing between activities or worrying about finding the perfect gifts, families can spend time outdoors enjoying the season together.

The farm’s offerings include opportunities to see live reindeer and visit Santa, with plans for additional holiday activities and expanded experiences as the business grows.

“Our hope is families feel connected to each other while they visit the farm,” Blankenship said.

Making that vision a reality has required an enormous amount of work.

Before opening, Blankenship and her husband visited more than 15 reindeer farms across the country to learn about the animals and different approaches to operating a successful business.

Reindeer require specialized care, and finding veterinary expertise can be challenging. Operating a seasonal attraction also means balancing year-round animal expenses with a relatively short period of income.

But Blankenship hasn’t faced those challenges alone.

Her parents, sister, husband ,and extended family have all helped bring the farm to life.

Her father, Greg, and husband, Cody, have been particularly instrumental, spending evenings and weekends working to prepare the property for visitors.

“Without him and my husband, Cody, working tirelessly every evening after work and every weekend, the gates would never have opened,” Blankenship said.

During the farm’s first season, Santa was the only person they hired. Everyone else helping operate the attraction was family.

For Blankenship, that support has made the experience even more meaningful.

And the response from visitors has helped reassure her that the idea was worth pursuing.

When the family first announced its plans to bring reindeer to the farm, the Facebook post reached an audience far beyond Putnam County. People began purchasing tickets almost immediately.

One of Blankenship’s favorite memories came shortly after the reindeer arrived.

The animals had been brought home just before the season’s first snowfall, and watching them run through the snow on the family’s property was a moment she won’t soon forget.

“I swear the reindeer brought it with them and created magic,” she said.

Another unforgettable moment came when a family visited with their mother, who was in her 90s. Her children and grandchildren had gathered together for the experience.

“It was so heartwarming to see a new family tradition start,” Blankenship said.

Those moments are exactly what she hoped the farm would create.

But beneath the Christmas lights and holiday excitement is another purpose: reconnecting visitors with agriculture.

Blankenship hopes the reindeer will encourage families to visit the farm, where they can also learn more about rural life and the people who produce their food.

“Reindeer are just the door for us to connect the guests back to the farms and rural communities,” she explained.

The farm’s locally curated gift store also supports West Virginia businesses by featuring products such as honey, maple syrup, locally roasted coffee and other foods produced by regional makers.

Blankenship believes agritourism can strengthen rural communities by giving visitors a reason to experience working farms firsthand.

It’s also part of her larger hope for West Virginia.

Having once believed she needed to leave the state to find opportunity, Blankenship now wants to help create the kinds of experiences that make people want to come here.

“I think West Virginia is a place that gets in your blood and you can’t ever leave it behind,” she said.

She credits much of that connection to the people who call the state home.

“As I got older and continue to get older, you realize it’s the people that make home, home,” Blankenship said.

Her decision to build Old School Christmas Farm in Putnam County is also rooted in a desire to preserve her family’s land for future generations.

“If I can keep our third-generation family farm in the family for at least three more generations to come, then I have done my part to help West Virginia be on the map for something else,” she said.

Looking ahead, Blankenship hopes to expand the farm’s offerings, introduce additional seasonal events and grow the reindeer herd.

But even as the business evolves, she wants its purpose to remain unchanged.

She hopes Old School Christmas Farm will encourage families to appreciate the simple experiences that can so easily be overlooked.

It’s a lesson that reflects her own journey, from a young woman eager to leave West Virginia to a business owner determined to build something meaningful on the land her family has cared for over generations.

And for anyone considering taking a similar leap of faith, Blankenship encourages them to research their ideas and find people who can help guide them.

Building a business takes commitment, she said, but pursuing something you genuinely believe in can make the work worthwhile.

Ultimately, she hopes visitors leave Old School Christmas Farm with more than photographs of reindeer or memories of meeting Santa.

“My hope is that people take away that life is measured in memories and laughs, not by the number in your bank account or list of accomplishments,” Blankenship said. “In the end the people in your life are what should matter the most.”

For Blankenship, coming home meant rediscovering the value of what had been there all along.

Now, she’s working to make sure other families have a place to discover it, too.

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