The following map provides a general geographical understanding. It does not provide specific locations of the farms because of privacy reasons.
Map Courtesy of Carole Swann, Tennessee Department of Agriculture
Elsie Isom Bell
Sharon Lynn Bell
Clay Shearon
Thane Shearon
Tammy Fann
Located seven miles from Wartrace is Fox Run Farm.
Founded in 1890 by Russell Aubrey Lee, the 125 acres and the 1809 house on the
property became home to Lee and wife Mary Rachel Walker Lee, whom he married in
1895, and daughters Ethel Lee Troxler and Sara Lee Isom. Corn, wheat, oats,
hay, hogs, cattle, sheep, mules and horses were grown on the farm.
In 1930, U.S. Highway 64 was built through the farm and
Lee donated the section of his property for this primary transportation
corridor. Elsie Isom Bell, the granddaughter of the founders and one of the
current owners, acknowledges that with electricity, that came to that part of
the county in 1936, came great improvements. A refrigerator, an electric pump,
and electric lights changed the way of farming and daily farm life in many
ways.
Sara Lee Isom inherited the property in 1959 at the death
of her father. She and her husband, William Walker Isom continued raising
grains and livestock on the acreage. During 1940-41, Walker Isom worked on the
construction of
In 1982, at the death of
Sara Lee Isom, the farm was divided among her three daughters. Elsie Isom Bell
received about 18 acres and the historic farm house. Mrs. Bell and her husband,
Herman Ray Bell, later purchased a little over 55 acres from her sister, Mary
Isom Elmore, which they sold to their daughter, Sharon Lynn Bell, who has
renovated a former tenant house on the property. An additional 51 acres belongs
to the children of the late Linda Isom Shearon. All three tracts of land are
farmed together by Elsie Bell.
Photo
(right): The brick portion of the house was built in 1809, the frame additions
were completed in 1960 and 1978.
James H. Harrison
Jonathan Harrison established the Garrondale Farm in
1820.
On this rich farmland, located between
Upon his father’s death, Thomas F. Harrison inherited 120 acres of Garrondale and when his wife died 45 years later, the land was equally divided between his sons, Frank and James H. Harrison. From 1942 to the 1970s, James H. Harrison farmed the land, adding 115 acres to his original inheritance and growing tobacco and beans. Today, his widow, Mrs. James H. Harrison, still lives at the old Garrondale house, which was constructed in 1881.
James M. Hawkins
Mark Powell Hawkins
In 1896, Mark Guy purchased a farm near Wartrace from Samuel and Virginia F. Tilford. On the land he raised horses and hay. Mark never married but was a father figure to his nephew and nieces. In 1939 the land passed to his nephew, Guy Hawkins and his grandnephew, Guy Garnett Hawkins. Garnett married Lockey Pearl Casey Hawkins and they had five children. Guy wed Frances Cleo Powell Hawkins. During their ownership, the farm supported cattle, sheep, corn and hay. In the World War II years, maneuvers that trained American soldiers for combat were conducted on the hillside behind the house.
Guy Garnett and Frances Powell Hawkins
produced dairy cattle, corn, silage, hay and sheep. Progressive farmers, they practiced
conservation plans such as terraced fields, crop rotation, tile drainage,
waterways development, grass fields, grassing rotation and constructed a pond
and springs on the land. They were also very active in community organizations. Guy was a member of the Livestock
Association, the Director of the Bedford Farmers Co-op, served on the Board of
Directors for Bedford County Farm Bureau and later was Director for
Murfreesboro Production Credit Association.
After Guy passed away in 1994, Frances Powell Hawkins inherited the farm. In 1996, Mark became the fifth generation to own the land. Under his ownership, the farm raised beef cattle and hay. In 2002, Mark Hawkins and his son James (Jimmy) Mark Hawkins became co-owners of the farm. Jimmy is married to Lisa Marie and they have two children, Morgan Layne and Haley Marie. The Hawkins produce beef cattle, hay, corn and grower chickens.
Photo (top): Landscape View of the Hawkins Farm.
Photo (bottom): The smokehouse on the Hawkins Farm.
Virginia F. McBride
The Raus Community of
Patsy Spencer Richardson
Sometime
around 1900, James C. Leming and his wife, Mary Francis Sherill Leming,
acquired 50 acres of land in
The current owners of the farm are Patsy Spencer
Richardson, the great granddaughter of the founder and her husband James Larry
Richardson. Although the old farm house has decayed over time, the farm still
raises cattle and timber.
Margaret Busch Hinkle
Thoma
The John Elam Scruggs Farm is the second Century Farm
in
John Elam Scruggs inherited 99 acres from his mother in
1852. He married twice, having seven children by each of his two wives: Rachel
C. Finch Scruggs and Mary Jane Moore Scruggs. John Scruggs was a wealthy planter
and owned 23 slaves and approximately 1200 acres of land. To exhibit his
wealth, Scruggs successfully raised Tennessee Walking Horses. In 1888, John
Elam Scruggs, II, and his wife Margaret Roundtree Scruggs inherited much of the
farmland. He continued to raise horses, cows, sheep, corn and wheat.
In 1965, Margaret Scruggs Hinkle, the great granddaughter
of the founder, inherited a farm of approximately 100 acres. Together with her
husband Lurton Busch Hinkle, Margaret raised beef cattle, hay and corn. Ten
years later, Margaret Busch Hinkle Thoma of
James Walton Knight
& Mary Knight
Located about three miles north of Bell Buckle on
During the Civil War, the skirmish of Libery Gap was
fought partially on the farm. According to tradition, some Confederate soldiers
were buried in the family cemetery on the farm’s property.
The
next owner of the farm was Robert’s son, Oscar Walton Beachboard. Along with
his wife, Dera Lynch, and their four children, they raised the same livestock
and crops that the founder did. In 1906, Robert and Dera experienced a tragic
loss when their son, Leslie died.
During the 1940s, the farmland, like many
other farmlands in Middle Tennessee, was used by the United States Army for
training maneuvers. In 1954, at the death of Oscar Walton, the farm was willed
to his three daughters, Lucille, Katherine and Josephine.
In 1991, the great grandson of the founder and the son of Josephine, James Walton Knight, acquired the farm. Today, the farm raises cattle and hay and is farmed by Lessee Whitlee.
Dwight & Anne
Stubblefield
In the early twentieth century, automobile owners
demanded that state and local governments build modern paved highways. Many of
these construction projects, then and today, eliminated prosperous farmland
from production. But they also allowed farmers to have a more direct and
efficient way to market their crops and most farmers eagerly assisted the new
road construction. The O. D. Stubblefield Farm is only one of the Century Farms
to be directly touched by the new highway system that crisscrossed the state.
In 1855, John Brinkley founded the Stubblefield Farm,
located in the Raus community, and received clear title to the land in 1857.
The
John Brinkley died in 1900 and his will divided the land
among his children. Matt Brinkley eventually bought much of the land and
cultivated the family throughout the early twentieth century. According to
tradition, Matt and his wife Margaret Smith Brinkley “always kept a nice farm
and would loan money out to needy neighbors.” Matt also sold part of his land
to allow the “
Matt and Margaret’s only surviving child, Angie Brinkley,
inherited the farm upon the death of her father in 1938. Thirty-six years later,
she also died and the farm became the property of her husband, O. D.
Stubblefield. After O.D. died in 1987, his son Dwight Stubblefield and his wife
acquired the farm. Today, Dwight, his wife, Anne and their children raise
horses and beef cattle on the farm.
Henry Dale Parker
Paul Reagor Parker
In the late nineteenth century, innovation in the
field of livestock breeding resulted in more productive beef cattle and swine
herds. A brief review of Parkers’ Farm identifies this Century Farm as a key
contributor to the popularity of Angus cattle in Middle Tennessee. Located in
the Raus Community of
Elijah and Mary’s son Daniel Parker acquired about 410
acres of the farm in 1850. A prominent
By 1885 Henry T. Parker, Daniel’s son by his third wife
Susan W. G. Parker, had acquired 374 acres of Parkers’ Farm. He continued to
grow the same crops as his grandfather and father, but Henry was an innovator
in livestock production. The first member of the American Angus Association in
Daniel W. Parker, the third of Henry and May Shofner
Parker’s five children, inherited 200 acres of the farm in 1936. Like his
father, Daniel was eager to improve farm efficiency. In 1936, intrigued by the
federal government’s Rural Electric Co-op program, he helped to organize the
Duck River Electric Membership Corporation. Daniel served as its
secretary/treasurer until the early 1970s.
In 1972, Henry Dale and Paul Reagor Parker, the great
great grandsons of Elijah Parker, inherited the family farm of 200 acres.
Winston D. Roberts
Changing priorities in agricultural production, from
corn cultivation in the early 1800s to dairy farming at the turn of the century
to cattle production today, characterize the history of the Roberts Farm.
Established by Thomas Roberts of
Thomas and Betsy’s only son, Thomas Lacy Roberts, was the
second generation owner. He married Priscilla Parker and they raised eleven
children. Together the family operated a 400 acres farm, which yielded corn,
hay, cattle and timber. In fact, the crops produced at the Roberts Farm would
change during the third generation ownership of Columbus Daniel and Fannie
Ferguson Roberts. But when the founders’ great grandson Claude D. Roberts
assumed ownership of the property during the twentieth century, he added dairy
cattle to the farm’s products and also operated a grist mill in the Raus
community.
In 1969, Claude and his wife Pauline’s only child,
Winston D. Roberts, inherited 104 acres of original family land. Winston and
his daughters, Carol and Dorothy, presently manage a farm which specializes in
cattle and hay production.
James Greer Russell
Joe Russell
Located on the
In 1906, their son Samuel T. Russell inherited the land,
yielding the same products that his father produced. Samuel died in 1933 and
his wife Mattie was granted a life tenancy. She lived until the 1970s when the
farm passed to her children, James G. and Joe Russell.
Keeping in step with the trends of modern agriculture,
the Russell brothers manage a more specialized operation than their
grandparents or parents. The Russell Farm still contains 198 acres and produces
hay, pasture, cattle and timber.
Mattie Locke
Most
In 1901, their son Robert E. Elkins acquired the farm.
Adding three acres during his ownership, Robert continued to raise bees for
honey and cleared additional land for cultivation. His daughter Mattie
remembers that “when we moved here in 1900 one of the hill fields of 30 acres
had lots of big stumps to plow around.” Robert was an active member of the
Bedford County Farm Bureau.
Robert Lee and Mattie Elkins Locke obtained Spring Hills
Dairy Farm in 1938. Like her grandparents, Mattie and Robert Locke produced
honey, several types of livestock, and “all kinds of grains and hay.” With a
herd of about 35
The Spring Hill Dairy no longer operates, but Mattie and
her son Roy E. Locke still manage the farm, raising hay and beef cattle. A
nineteenth century barn, built by the founders, remains in use and Mattie lives
in the farmhouse, constructed by her grandparents well over 100 years ago.
Nancy Hastings Stowers
Hugh Stowers
John Wallis founded the Stow-Ha-Wa Farm in 1842.
Located four miles southeast of Shelbyville, Wallis’ holdings originally
included 150 acres, where he cultivated corn, wheat, swine and cattle. A native
of
In 1869, William Gordon Wallis, one of John and Mary
Wallis’ four children, acquired 125 acres of his parents’ land. Later adding 75
acres to Stow-Ha-Wa, William Gordon cultivated corn, wheat and clover, while
raising swine and cattle.
William Gordon and Nancy Arnold Wallis had only one
child, Mary Ann Wallis Hastings. In 1971, Mary’s daughter Nancy Hastings
Stowers and her husband Hugh Stowers acquired the farm.
Bobby W. Vannatta
The Vannatta Farm, Inc., which is ten miles north of
Shelbyville, is one of the few incorporated Century Farms. Established by James
and Jerusha Clardy Vannatta in 1850, the farm initially contained 100 acres of
land on which the founders grew wheat, cotton, and corn. They also managed a
herd of cattle and their land was the site of the local post office.
Married twice, James Vannatta fathered ten children and
his son George W. Vannatta became the farm’s second generation owner. George
and his wife Fanny Swain raised five children. While George farmed the same
amount of land and produced the same commodities as his father, he took
advantage of the popularity of cotton in the late nineteenth century and “built
and operated the first cotton gin in the 5th district,” making his
farm property much more valuable.
The founders’ grandson, William Cleveland Vannatta, was
the third owner of the family farm. W. C. increased his acreage to 320 acres.
“A successful farmer always looking to find new techniques in farming
practices,” he used modern farm machinery wherever possible and “operated one
of the first wheat threshers in
W. C. wed Ophelia Hardison and they were the parents of
nine children. Their son Marvin (Pete) Vannatta was the farm’s next operator.
Pete, his wife Elizabeth Walls and their four children introduced new crops
such as crimson clover and began a dairy business. Like his father, Pete
continued to modernize the place, purchasing the county’s first cotton picker
and remaining active in the county’s Soil Conservation Service.
In 1964, Bobby W. Vannatta acquired the farm’s original 100 acres to which he has added 752 acres of land. Vannatta, the great great grandson of the founders, incorporated the farm’s operations in 1980.
Photo: A log building on the Vannatta Farm.
Alpha
Whitney Philpott
Wayside Farm, founded by Jacob Kizer in 1838, is
located about four miles southeast of Shelbyville. On his 105 acres, Jacob
Kizer practiced “general farming” and was a slave trader. In 1851, Kizer’s
granddaughter Margaret Ro Ann Kimery acquired the land. She first married
Thomas N. McFarland and had two children; later she wed Thomas B. Philpott with
whom she raised ten more children.
When Margaret died about 1898, the farm passed into the
hands of her husband. In 1911, their son Edmund L. Philpott gained control of
Wayside Farm. Like his ancestors, Edmund was a “general farmer” typically found
in Middle Tennessee. He raised several types of livestock of which cattle was
the most important. Corn was the chief foodstuff generated on the farm.
Edmund and Ona Catherine Tribble Philpott had four
children and in 1956, their son Whitney obtained 82 acres of the original Kizer
farmland.
Thelma Wherley
The Wherleys Farm, established by Joseph and Anne
Yates Morton in 1827, is located six and a half miles southwest of Shelbyville.
The North Carolina-born Morton began with 50 acres and added 120 acres to the
farm during his lifetime. The father of eight children, Joseph produced the
typical crops and livestock of the region: corn, hay, wheat, cattle, horses and
swine. According to family tradition, the Mortons were “a hard working God
fearing family with normal activities and interests in the development of this
area both civic and religious.”
In 1866, Jospeh and Anne’s daughter Letsey Morton Robinson
and her husband Henry T. Robinson acquired the 170 acre farm. They added apple
and peach orhchards to the farm’s landscape and improved cattle and swine.
By 1915, the farm had passed into the hands of three sons
of Henry and Letsey Robinson: H. W., Joe H. and C. M. Robinson. The years from
1915 to 1940 witnessed many changes as the brothers built barns, storage sheds
and started a dairy. H. W. bought out his brothers’ interests and by 1940 was
the sole owner of Wherleys Farm. He and Edyth Davidson Robinson had two
children, Thelma and Nannie.
Thelma Robinson Wherley inherited her parents’ 170 acre
farm in 1956.
Juliet Ryall Ashley
Albert Ryall Ashley
The location of Woodlawn Farm, on the old
Albert Prentice Hall, a notable
When Mrs. Albert P. Ryall died in 1945, the great great
granddaughter of Walter Sims, Juliet Ryall Ashley, inherited a farm of 300
acres. Today, her son Albert manages the land and produces cattle, tobacco and
hay. With the original homestead still standing, along with a cedar log barn
more than a century old, Woodlawn retains a nineteenth century sense of time
and place.