{"id":311512,"date":"2026-06-18T09:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311512\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T09:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T09:12:08","slug":"old-florida-still-lives-here-inside-a-ranch-thats-been-in-the-same-family-since-1937-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311512\/","title":{"rendered":"Old Florida still lives here, inside a ranch that’s been in the same family since 1937"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Four generations of the same family have spent nearly 90 years working the land at Adams Ranch in Fort Pierce <\/a>\u2014 and now a fifth generation is growing up there.<\/p>\n

“It’s just a way of life,” said ranch foreman Billy Adams. “And it’s a good way of life. Good way to bring up your family.”<\/p>\n

Founded in 1937, Adams Ranch has become one of Florida’s most well-known cattle operations.<\/p>\n

What started as a small cattle operation in St. Lucie County has grown into one of the largest cow-calf ranches in the country.<\/p>\n

“The ranch was started in 1937 by my grandfather,” said Mike Adams, president of Adams Ranch.<\/p>\n

See also: WWII Veteran, 101, Awarded France’s Highest Honor in Stuart<\/a><\/p>\n

While much of Florida continues to grow and develop, life on the ranch looks much the same as it did generations ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cowboys still move cattle on horseback. Herding dogs help guide the cattle. And before sunrise, the workday is already underway.<\/p>\n

For Billy Adams, ranching has been part of life for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n

“I started here when I was five years old,” he said.<\/p>\n

The ranch’s history is preserved throughout the property, from old family photographs to artifacts collected over decades and displayed in a ranch museum.<\/p>\n

But the Adams family says preserving the ranch is about more than honoring the past.<\/p>\n

As development spreads across Florida, they see ranch land as an important part of the state’s future.<\/p>\n

“It’s squeezing some of the land in a lot of different areas of Florida,” Mike Adams said.<\/p>\n

The family says ranches help preserve open space, support wildlife and contribute to Florida’s food supply.<\/p>\n

“We really do not want to become in a position where we don’t provide our own food for our people,” Adams said.<\/p>\n

Today, the ranch spans roughly 50,000 acres across several Florida counties and remains under the hands-on management of the Adams family.<\/p>\n

For those who work there, the ranch remains more than a business.<\/p>\n

“It taught me that hard work won’t kill you,” Billy Adams said.<\/p>\n

And nearly 90 years after the ranch was founded, the Adams family hopes the tradition continues for generations to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT PIERCE, Fla. (CBS12) \u2014 Four generations of the same family have spent nearly 90 years working the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":["post-311512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie","tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","tag-port-st-lucie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}