Posted by Katie Zakrzewski | Oct 27, 2022 | Magazine, Travel | 0 |
Look up Goobertown, Arkansas, and some of your first search results will be lists of towns in America with the strangest names. In regard to Goobertown, the most common statement in the comments section is, “Blink and you’ll miss it.”
Goobertown started when a handful of Confederate war veterans decided to settle down in northeastern Arkansas and farm goobers, or as they’re more commonly known today, peanuts. The town was put on the map when Goobertown Grocery – a former pit stop on U.S. 49 owned by the Banks family – began selling Goobertown T-shirts, complete with an anthropomorphic peanut graphic.
When famous country singer Trace Adkins passed through town, he grabbed a shirt, which he wore underneath a blazer at his next concert – and the word about Goobertown spread like wildfire.
Merchandise hangs in a multipurpose store in Goobertown. The store serves as a vape, glass, fish and swag store in town.
Today, Goobertown is an unincorporated town that’s directly attached to the growing community of Brookland. If you head North on U.S. Highway 49 from Jonesboro, you’ll pass through Brookland on your way toward Paragould. Once you’ve left the incorporated part of Brookland, you’re in Goobertown.
With Goobertown Grocery closed and demolished, it was hard to find someone who knew something about the town other than Trace Adkins or peanuts.
While looking for clues, a kind fellow named Jeremy at The Party Store in Paragould offers a word of advice.
“I know a guy who seems to own half of Goobertown,” he says.
Enter Rich Johnston.
Johnston graduated from Brookland High School and now owns several businesses in Goobertown. He works alongside a host of residents, including Zach Slater.
“Most people my age can place Goobertown by where the old, now gone, Goobertown Grocery convenience store used to be,” Johnston recalls. “It was a scene straight out of Southern novel. Dusty, old wooden floor, large metal oil and beverage signs, etc. It was positioned right across the road from my businesses, at the corner of U.S. 49 N and County Road 792, known affectionately as Goobertown Road.”
Goobertown Grocery no longer exists, but when it was running, was one of the main indicators of being within the town’s limits.
When you look up Goobertown in Apple or Google Maps, you’ll be pointed to the aforementioned intersection. You’ll also notice Emerald’s Triangle, which is one of Johnston’s businesses.
“We offered a glass shop, vape accessories and CBD initially, within Emerald’s Triangle. We now have several large saltwater aquariums (with fish and coral for sale) as part of ‘The Reefer Garden’ and hippy-esque clothing and accessories, crystals, rocks and trinkets in our ‘Faded Walls’ section. That is all in unit one.”
In unit two, visitors to Goobertown will find Shaman’s Reach, also owned by Johnston.
“Shaman’s Reach is where we produce our CBD products: small-batch, tested, safe,” Johnston says. “After we found that many CBD products on the market were fake, filled with synthetic chemicals that cause a ‘high’ . . . we put a stop to that in our area by providing natural-ingredient-only CBD products. We opened unit one with just the vape shop/glass shop/CBD in 2016, and vertically integrated the other business as we grew and found needs to fulfill.”
Units three through seven in the Goobertown strip mall are also owned by Johnston, and include Emerald’s Print Shop, Emerald’s Woodshop and Hotwired Car Audio.
Johnston acknowledges the influence of Brookland, while also revealing the uniqueness of Goobertown.
“Typically, when referencing what it’s like living in the area, people tie Goobertown into Brookland. It’s a quiet, small town, positioned between two rapidly growing cities. The school system is one of the state’s best for K-12. The crime rate is low. And we have a mix of people from all walks of life, age, sex, creed, religion and political affiliation,” he says. “As far as Goobertown goes, our little strip here is genuinely it, outside of a used car dealership, a veterinarian, a few mechanics, a gym and a church or two.”
Johnston gives a nod to the nutty roots of Goobertown as well.
“My assumption would be a history of peanut farming. As you may have found out, the history of Goobertown isn’t an easy one to seek out,” he says. “It’s a blip – literally, on the map – but we love it. We’ve got Goobertown swag as well, popular with those who remember that old grocery store and for those who find themselves traveling through and chuckle at the little town with a unique name.”
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