J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport: Ranch Aviation in Highlands County's Venus Community
J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport serves the aviation needs of a ranch or farm operation near Venus in Highlands County, one of Florida's most rural interior counties dominated by cattle ranching, citrus production, and the vast Kissimmee Prairie that stretches westward toward Lake Okeechobee. Venus is a small unincorporated community in the southwestern corner of Highlands County near the Glades County line, in an area of open prairie and ranchland that is among the least developed in the state. Farm airports like J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport are essential transportation infrastructure for operations covering thousands of acres in this remote corner of south-central Florida.
Highlands County's agricultural economy has been shaped by Lake Placid's caladium bulb industry — the county produces the majority of the world's caladium bulbs — and the broader citrus and cattle industries of the Lake Wales Ridge and Kissimmee Prairie. Private airstrips throughout the county support this economy, and J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport in the Venus area provides the aerial access needed to manage a large agricultural operation in one of Florida's most remote reaches. Avon Park Executive Airport to the north and Sebring Regional Airport to the east are the nearest public-use facilities for any pilot needing public services in the region.
Where is Venus, Florida located?
Venus is a small unincorporated community in the southwestern corner of Highlands County, near the Glades County line and the Kissimmee Prairie. It is in one of Florida's most remote agricultural areas, surrounded by cattle ranches and open prairie land.
Is J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport open to the public?
J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport is a private farm strip requiring landowner authorization before use. It is not a public-access airport and is listed in FDOT's aviation inventory as a private agricultural facility.
What are the nearest public airports to Venus, Highlands County?
Avon Park Executive Airport and Avon Park Municipal Airport to the north, and Sebring Regional Airport to the northeast, are the nearest public-use general aviation airports serving the Highlands County area around Venus.
J H Hendrie Farms Airport Contact Information
Address, Phone Number, and Hours for an Airports in Venus, Florida.
| Name | J H Hendrie Farms Airport |
| Address | U.s. 27, Venus FL 33960 Map |
| Phone | |
| Website | |
| Hours |
Map of J H Hendrie Farms Airport
About J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport in Venus, Florida — Highlands County Prairie Ranch Aviation
Highlands County's interior, particularly its southwestern reaches near Venus and the Kissimmee Prairie, represents Florida at its most primordial — a landscape of flat prairie grasses, scattered live oaks, and enormous cattle ranches that looks much as it did when the first cattle operations were established in the 19th century. The Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, one of Florida's largest state preserves at over 54,000 acres, protects the remnant dry prairie ecosystem just west of Venus, maintaining the open grassland that is critical habitat for sandhill cranes, burrowing owls, and the rare Florida grasshopper sparrow.
Ranch aviation in the Highlands County prairie region has long been essential for managing the large ranches that occupy this landscape. J.H. Hendrie Farms Airport serves this tradition, providing the aerial access that allows ranch management to operate efficiently across properties that can span miles of open grassland. FDOT's tracking of this private facility within the statewide aviation inventory reflects the importance of agricultural aviation to the economies of Florida's interior cattle counties. For aviation historians and rural land managers, farms like J.H. Hendrie represent the living legacy of Florida's ranch aviation heritage.