'Welcome To Plathville': Do The Plaths Really Live On A Farm?
The own at least two other properties.
Instagram TLC fans can't get enough of the family on Welcome to Plathville. The series, which just wrapped up its first season, features a Georgia clan with 11 family members living on a 50-acre farm that they call their "slice of heaven."
They explain the farm is 10 miles from the nearest town and the kids are homeschooled so they don't have a lot of contact with the rest of the world. They even limit their contact with technology and stick to more wholesome pursuits like farming and music for the kids.
Of course, the family hasn't entirely shied away from the rest of the world. They have been touring as a Southern Gospel band since 2015 and they have recorded CDs and made music videos as a part of that career. The TLC show was an opportunity for them to share their stories with a TV audience and give fans a glimpse of a different way of life.
Now, however, there are new questions about how real their whole backstory is. Listings on Airbnb and a Facebook page show that the farm where the TV series is filmed — and what's depicted as the Plath home — may not be where the family actually lives full time.
Do the Plaths really live on a farm? Read on to find out more.
1. Who are the Plath family?
The family consists of parents Kim and Barry and their nine children: Ethan, 21, Hosanna, 20, Micah, 18, Moriah, 17, Lydia, 15, Isaac, 13, Amber, 10, Cassia, 8, and Mercy, 6. Ethan is recently married to Olivia and the two of them live not far from his parents. Daughter Hosana is also married but she lives in Ohio with her husband, Timothy Nobel.
The rest of the family allegedly live on their Georgia farm, which Barry says is their refuge from the larger world. “We’ve structured our lifestyle here so that we can retreat to our piece of heaven on earth,” Barry explains in the first episode of the show.
2. Do the Plaths really live on a farm?
On camera, it certainly looks as if the adults and unmarried kids are settled in on the farm. All the kids talk about how peaceful and happy they feel living there. Son Micah is raising cows on the land and father Barry talks to son Ethan about repairing farm equipment.
It all looks like a place that they live and work. So why is it listed on Airbnb?
The Plaths live on a farm. Or do they?
3. You can rent the "Farmhouse at The Retreat at Silver Rein" for $100 per night.
It turns out Kim has an account as a "superhost" on the Airbnb website and the farmhouse is one of the rental listings. "Nestled on a private and quiet fifty acre farm. Large field is perfect for frisbee, soccer etc. Volleyball net, swings, hiking trails," the listing for "Farmhouse at The Retreat at Silver Rein" says. "You have the house all to yourself. There is a caretaker on the property if you need anything. There's a wood stove you can use in the winter that makes the house super cozy, or you're welcome to use the central heat."
The photos in the listing are the same as the house on the TV show and lists sleeping space for nine, the number of people allegedly living there on TLC. The listing also includes a TV among the amenities for the house, which is weird considering the Plaths say they don't have a TV.
4. The farm isn't the only Airbnb property.
Superhost Kim has a second property listed on Airbnb as well. Kim also lists "Cabin on the Pond" in her profile. The $69-per night property boasts "Cute cabin. Lots of woods, nature, and privacy. Fishing and kayaking on pond. Relax by the fire pit after a dip in the pond. That's the good life!"
The cabin has sleeping accommodations for five people, though there is only one bedroom. The remaining beds are pullouts in common areas of the space. The photos certainly look idyllic and the rating for this property, as well as the farmhouse, are quite good.
5. The Plaths have at least one other house, too.
The Plaths also own a house in Cairo, GA, the nearest town to the farm. Cairo is a city of about 9,000 and is the county seat for Grady County. The Cairo house has its own Facebook Page called Kim's Old House.
They describe the home as "1923 house we are loving back to life with lots of dollars and sweat! We will post before & after pics as we go." The earliest photos of the house are from 2017 and the family has been slowly but steadily renovating the property. The most recent pictures are of the kitchen renovation from March 2019.
When they first started posting about this house two years ago, different people in their comments asked if they were leaving the farm. The Plaths replied at the time, "This house needs a lot of work! No one is moving anytime soon! But we will be there every day cleaning painting fixing!"
Currently, pictures show updated bedrooms and while there's furniture in the finished rooms, it's hard to tell if anyone is actually living there.
Photos of the Plath's house in Cairo, GA.
6. So... where do the Plaths really live?
If you go by the comments on the Cairo house page, it seems like the family really did live on the farm in 2017. But since that's when they bought the fixer-upper, maybe they were starting to plan a change in lifestyle at that time.
As for where they live right this second, we simply don't have enough information to say for sure. The Plaths haven't said anything about the real estate empire or their place in it.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.