Bradley County

Bradley County is located in southeast Tennessee and shares its southern boundary with the state of Georgia. The county was founded in 1836 and was named in honor of Colonel Edward Bradley, a Revolutionary War veteran who served with Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812. The city of Cleveland is the county seat. One of the top tourist attractions in the county is the Red Clay State Historical Area, an interpretive center for the Cherokee removal known as the Trail of Tears. There are five Century Farms in Bradley County and the oldest are the Varnell Farm and the Chatata Valley Heritage Farm that were both established in 1839. For more information on Bradley County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia for History & Culture website.

The Bend of the River Farm was established by Kate Anne Saulpaw Varnell in 1890 and is located two miles east of Charleston near the Hiwassee River. The land was given as a wedding gift from her parents George Washington Saulpaw and Emeline Davis Saulpaw in August of 1886. George owned and operated a steamboat with freight barges on the Tennessee River in West Tennessee at Pittsburgh Landing. In 1862 during the Civil War, his boat equipment was taken by

U. S.

troops.

Kate, James and their four children built a farm of 141.5 acres which produced wheat, corn, tobacco, apple orchards, beehives, hogs, alfalfa, milk cows and horses. In 1906, the farm experienced a tragic event when the preexisting Bates farm house on the property was burned. According to the family, all the items in the house were burned with the exception of a porcelain statue that belonged to James and Kate’s son Guy Maurice.

Photo (top) Farm House in the 1910s on the Bend of the River Property
Photo (right) A family portrait of Dr. James Sullins Varnell and Kate Anne Saulpaw with their children

The Baptist church, the Democratic party, rural medicine and progressive farming are only four of the historical themes that bid together the generations who have lived and worked at the Chatata Valley Heritage Farm. The property dates to 1839 when John and Amelia Neil Simmons purchased 640 acres located eight miles northeast of Cleveland. The farm produced corn, vegetables, forage, geese, horses, mules, cattle and poultry. Simmons also owned a grist mill, brick kiln and blacksmith shop and served the community as a physician and a Baptist preacher. Of all the Century Farm founders, Simmons perhaps enjoyed the most versatile career.

The founders were the parents of seven children and their son Dr. Isham C. Simmons inherited 260 acres in 1859. Issac was a charter member of the Bradley County Medical Society. A Democrat in politics and a Baptist in religion, Dr. Simmons also helped to establish the Chatata Academy. Married to Rebecca Ann Julian, he fathered four children.

Isham Simmons also was a profitable farmer. The family farm survived the Civil War without major losses and in the Reconstruction period, a family of former slaves stayed on the farm and helped the Simmons clear new pasture. The farm’s products included cotton, corn, fruit, mules, cattle and poultry.

Frank Simmons inherited 92 acres of the family farm in 1920. Like his father, Frank managed a diversified farm operation with dairy cattle, mules, horses, swine and poultry in addition to growing cotton, legumes, wheat, corn and various hays. A typical modern farmer of the early twentieth century, Frank reclaimed new land for agriculture and instituted scientific farming procedures. He also maintained the family tradition of being a strong Democratic and Baptist leader in the community while, at the same time, playing important roles in several farm organizations.

Frank and his wife Emma Baldwin had six children. Their daughter Ann Louise and her husband Harry Theodore Chase, Sr., inherited the property in 1945. Owning over 600 acres, the Chases grow legumes, grain and hay and raise beef cattle. The family’s agricultural improvements, however, have not obscured the farm’s history; two buildings from its past-a church and a log barn-remain on the property.

For the first two generations of the Hiwassee Bend family farm, agricultural development was intertwined with the spiritual development of Bradley County’s Methodist community. Located two miles southeast of Charleston, the Hiawassee Bend Farm dates to the antebellum age and its founder William Bates, who died in 1842. Bates farmed 420 acres, cultivating corn and beef cattle. An ordained Methodist minister, he married Mary Camp and they were the parents of thirteen children.

After the Civil War, Sterling V. Bates inherited 285 acres from his mother in 1868. Also a Methodist minister, Bates raised cattle and grew corn and hay. He and his wife Charlotte Robertson had three children. Caroline Bates married William L. Hambright and they became the owners of 75 acres of the family farm. The Hambrights, who were the parents of three children, also began to cultivate tobacco.

In 1946, Charlotte Hambright Alexander, the great granddaughter of the founder, inherited the Hiwassee Bend Farm. The Alexanders specialize in beef cattle production and have recently renovated the nineteenth century farmplace.

Irish immigrants Joel and Richard Kelley established the Kelley Farm in 1840, locating their 200 acres about nine miles southwest of Cleveland. The family knows little of the farm’s early history except that an unidentified Indian served as a farm laborer and is now buried in the family cemetery. The brothers farmed side by side until 1850 when Joel bought his brother’s parcel of land.

Joel’s only son, Elijah Kelley, acquired the farm in 1862. He and his wife Julia McSpadden and their eight children raised hogs, chickens and cows while practicing general farming on their 200 acres. Seizing the advantage of the proximity of the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad, they sold cross-ties to the railroad company. The family also established a public school at “Possum-Trot.”

In 1875, ownership of the property passed into the hands of the seven surviving grandchildren of Joel Kelley. The farm’s products did not change until Dailey and C. A. Kelley, the founder’s great grandsons, took control of the 200 acres in 1908. Like many early twentieth century farmers, Dailey and C. A. diversified the farm’s crops, producing peanuts, popcorn, sorghum and cotton in addition to raising several types of livestock. In 1916, Dailey bought out his brother’s interest in the property and became the sole owner. Planting strawberries and raising goats, he continued to experiment with new farm products. He also operated a well digger and a saw mill.

Dailey and his wife Sarah Bradshaw had two boys and in 1958, the farm passed into the hands of their son Harold W. Kelley. Three generations of Kelleys now live on the farm’s 250 acres, which generate products such as tobacco, cattle, cotton, wheat and poultry.

Photo: Dailey L. Kelley of Bradley County always received top dollar for his tobacco, an important cash crop for twentieth century farmers throughout Tennessee.

The evolution of the Varnell Farm over 140 years-from grain farm to tobacco farm to dairy farm-mirrors the development of many properties in this section of East Tennessee. In 1839, Samuel and Elizabeth Hannah Maroon established the Varnell Farm, located eleven miles south of Cleveland, on land previously owned by the Cherokee Indians. Parents of ten children, the founders farmed a total of 280 acres devoted to the production of corn, wheat and hay. The Civil War was a cruel blow to this German immigrant for he saw his sons join both the Union and Confederate armies.

In 1880, Silas Wright Maroon inherited 100 acres from his father. He too grew corn, wheat and hay, but also raised watermelons. An organizer of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Silas also donated land for the construction of the Maroon School. With his wife Sara Boone, Silas had one daughter, Anne Elizabeth Maroon, who inherited the family land in 1920.