Arabian Lane is just off the Palmer-Wasilla Highway outside Palmer. It feels like you’re entering a different world when you turn onto it.
You leave the bustle of a busy highway. You leave the string of commercial buildings that line it. You find yourself in a secluded, quiet neighborhood. You see gardens and horses and decorative super-tuffs along this idyllic drive. The neighborhood is called Arabian Acres.
David Cheezem rides his bike through this neighborhood. He was curious about its history. Why is it named Arabian Acres? Cheezem asked around. He discovered that Arabian Acres began as a homestead years ago. He couldn’t nail down an exact year. However, he found Kim Swift. Her family established the homestead.
Kim’s grandparents bred, raised, and sold Arabian horses on the homestead. Arabians are a special breed of horses. There’s a bond between the horses and their owners according to the Arabian Horse Times. The horses are sensitive to human emotions. They make great companions.
The roots of Arabian horses stretch back more than 4,000 years. Bedouin tribes needed the horses to survive. However, they were more than work horses. The Bedouins allowed their horses into their tents. They lived as a family. They bred the horses for their willingness to work. They also bred in traits of loyalty and companionship.
Arabians are quick learners and easy to train according to the article. They do demand attention though. Thousands of years of breeding produced a horse that wants human interaction and socialization.
Our reporter’s wife Melissa Behnke has fond memories of the horses. Her mother drove past the homestead on the way to work when Behnke was a kid. The most exciting part of the ride for young girl was seeing the Arabian horses.
The homestead is subdivided now. RW Burger sits on the original homestead site. The area manages to keep some of its original character. Arabian horses are memorialized in the subdivision placenames.
The neighborhood feels like a quiet refuge in a bustling part of the borough. You see horses munching on feed in their pens, although they aren’t necessarily Arabian horses.
“Arabian Acres” is an appropriate name.
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David Cheezem reported this Page Two article and yours truly, Lee Henrikson produced it. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Wednesday, July 22, 2026.
Image: Posie Kennedy on horseback followed by Kim Swift’s mom. Swift’s grandmother follows on the white horse. All are riding Arabian Horses in this undated photo. Photo credit: Palmer Historical Society; sent to us by Kim Swift.