Haywood County

Alta Vista Farm

Bob Curlin Farm

Booth Farm

Castellaw Corner Farm

Crafton Farm

Friedman Farm

Greaves Farm

Joyner's Hill Farm

Lagoon Plantation

Norris Farm

Pineyhill Farm

S.B. Mann Farm

Stewart Farm

Tucker Place Farm

The following map is for a general geographical understanding. It does not provide the specific locations of the farms because of privacy reasons.

Map courtesy of Carole Swann, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Adams Farm

Elizabeth Friedman

Located south of the Hatchie River is the Adams Farm that was founded in 1895 by J. B. Adams and his wife Ann.  Cotton and corn were raised on the 156 acres.  The next owner of the land was J. B.’s brother, W. H. Adams who married  Margaret W. Adams.  In 1959, the great granddaughter of the founder, Elizabeth Friedman acquired the farm. Today, the farm is leased to Darrell Burk who farms the land.

Alta Vista Farm

Hal and Denita Jarrett

Brenda Cain

Sherry Guthrie

            In 1850, Mitchell and Katherine Armstrong Currie established the Alta Vista Farm, which is one and a half miles south of Brownsville. The parents of four children, the Curries owned approximately 1,000 acres. The second farm owner was Allie Currie Dickinson, the wife of H. H. Dickinson and the mother of four children. Little else is known about Alta Vista’s early history.

            In 1970, John Howard Jarratt, Jr., who is the great grandson of the founders, obtained title to 100 acres of the original farm. He and his family lived in the Alta Vista’s 1855 dwelling. The farm is now owned by John’s son, Hal Jarrett, his wife Denita and Hal’s two sisters, Brenda Cain and Sherry Guthrie. 

Bob Curlin Farm

Dorothy Curlin Morris

Bobby Curlin Reid

             In 1880, Issac Washington Curlin bought a farm from his father in-law J. J. Dickinson. Located ten miles east of Brownsville, the farm produced cotton, corn, hay and cattle. Married to Martha Dickinson Curlin, the couple had thirteen children. According to the family, the Curlins won a sewing machine at the County Fair one year for having the largest family. In addition to managing the farm, Issac had a community blacksmith shop and was an active member of the Confederate Veterans organization.

            After the death of Issac in 1912, his son Bob Taylor Curlin was deeded the farm by his brothers and sisters. Bob married Lillian Stuart Curlin and they raised cotton, soybeans, corn, hay and cattle on the farm. During World War I, Bob served as a soldier and went to France. As the years went by, the farm received some improvements when the Tennessee Valley Authority added electricity to the farm. Bob and his wife had two children named Dorothy Curlin Morris and Bobby Curlin Reid.

            Dorothy and Bobby inherited the land in 1972 when Bob passed away. Today, Dorothy and Bobby continue to own the farm and their cousin Wilson Thomas works the land. Currently, the farm yields cotton, soybeans and corn. 

Booth Farm

Milton L. Booth

In 1894, following the death of her mother, Blanch G. Booth, one of eight children, inherited 84 acres which had belonged to her parents.  Originally covered with timber, the land was cleared over the years and corn, cotton, and cattle were the primary crops.   When her father and mother, or other ancestors,  first acquired the land is not known.

Albert Leroy Booth became the next owner of the land in 1941.  He and his wife, Mildred Brown Booth, had five children. Under Albert’s ownership, the family, including five children, produced  sorghum, sweet potatoes, cotton, corn, and raised cattle. In addition, Albert acquired more acreage that was adjacent to the original farm and built a farmhouse.

In 1974, Milton L. Booth acquired the farm. Today, Milton and his wife Becky and son Bradley raise cotton, soybeans, hay and quarter horses. 

Castellaw Corner Farm

Thomas Edward Castellaw

Betty Castellaw Sims

Castellaw Corner Farm, located 5 miles north of Brownsville, was founded in 1903 by Zack Fletcher Castellaw and his wife Ida Simpson.  The 1,000 acres yielded corn and cotton and also supported cows. The couple had six children. Their son Zack Thomas Castellaw was the next owner of the land, along with his wife Frances Bryant and their two children. The farm produced corn, cotton and cows.

The current owners of the farm are Thomas Edward Castellaw and Betty Castellaw Sims.  Mr. Castellaw, grandson of the founders, reports that a cotton gin and a commissary once operated on the farm and, before electricity came to the area, the house used carbide lighting.  Describing his ancestors, one of whom was a member of the Haywood County Court, Castellaw notes the family was “known as hardworking, patriotic folks.”   Castellaw and his wife Carolyn live on the farm today where cotton is the primary crop. 

Crafton Farm

Joe Reeves Crafton, Sr.

Pattie Marie Thornton Crafton

Hugh Fletcher Crafton

Nicholas Thornton Crafton

Joe Reeves Crafton, Jr.

Dr. Eugene Middleton Crafton

The Crafton Farm dates to 1831 when George G. Ware acquired 53 acres near Stanton, Tennessee. Over the next decade, George acquired more acreage and increased his farm to 611 acres. Under his ownership, the farm produced cotton, corn, hay, mules, horses and cattle. Married to Jane E. Middleton Ware, the couple had ten children.

            The next owner of the land was George’s daughter, Caroline “Carrie” Middleton Ware Crafton. She married twice and had one son. Her first husband was Joseph David Crafton, Jr. who served as a lieutenant in Company A, Calvary Battalion, Hampton’s Legion in South Carolina. While in Tennessee, he taught Latin in a private school next to the Stanton Mausoleum and at the Presbyterian Church. He also served as the first schoolmaster of Stanton Masonic Lodge and School in 1871. In 1876, Joseph died of pneumonia, seven months before the birth of his son, Eugene.

Caroline’s son, Eugene Calhoun Crafton, Sr. became the next owner of the farm. Married twice, he fathered three children. During the Great Depression, Eugene faced a heavy mortgage payment and he wanted to raise a crop that would be profitable. After consulting with his two sons, Gene, Jr. and Joe Reeves, they decided to grow strawberries. According to the family, Gene, Jr. recommended this idea because a University of Tennessee professor stated that the soil and other conditions were favorable for growing strawberries. The crop of strawberries proved to be a success and within a year the farm’s mortgage was paid off. In addition to cultivating strawberries, the farm produced cotton, corn, soybeans, hay, cattle, hogs, sweet potatoes and cabbage.

As time moved on, Joe Reeves Crafton, Sr. acquired the property. After serving in World War II, Joe studied Mechanical Engineering and began working in Memphis. Although he no longer lived on the farm, he and his wife Pattie Marie Thornton instilled a “deep appreciation for their land” to their sons.

Today, Joe, his wife Pattie and their sons, Nicholas Thornton, Joe Reeves, Jr, Eugene Middleton and Hugh Fletcher have partial ownerships of the Crafton Farm. The family is active in the Conservation Reserve Program to help benefit wildlife and is also involved in the Tree Farm Plan and the Wild Turkey Woodland Plan. The Crafton farm house that was built in 1873 was remodeled in 1929 and has been refurbished. In addition, a barn a “Cook’s shed” and a stable/tenant house have been refurbished and are still being used.

Photo: The barn and “Cook’s Shed on the Crafton Farm.

Friedman Farm

Elizabeth Friedman

In 1904, W. H.  and Margaret Adams established a farm of 140 acres.    Cotton, corn and cattle were grown on this acreage.  One of their ten children, Tanner E. Adams, became the second generation to own the land in 1929.  Tanner and his wife Mary Lou Wells Adams had three children.

            In 1931, Warren T. Adams, brother to Tanner, acquired the farm. He had one daughter, Elizabeth Adams Friedman, who became the farm’s owner in 1959. Currently, Elizabeth and her husband Gerald T. Friedman, Sr. manage the farm that produces cotton and cattle.  Their son Joseph Warren Friedman and his family make three generations currently living on the farm.   Warren and his family live in a house built in 1941.

Greaves Farm

Stephen Edward Embry

            The Greaves Farm was founded in 1803 by Bennett Greaves. Born in South Carolina, Bennett married Rachel Davis and they had four children. On 2,000 acres, the farm produced cotton, cattle, horses, mules, chickens, hogs and sheep. During Bennett’s ownership, some of the land was given to build the Trinity Methodist Church and cemetery for the community.

            The next owner of the property was Bennett’s and Rachel’s son, Andrew Jackson Greaves. Married to Sophonia Davie, the couple had nine children. Their son, William Francis Greaves became the third generation to own the property.

During the Civil War, William went to Brownsville and enlisted in the Haywood Blues that was headed by Captain George C. Porter. According to the family, William participated in the Battles of Shiloh, Penville, Murfreesboro, Chicamauga, and Missionary Ridge. After the war was over, he returned to Haywood County and married Mary Alice Gause. William and Mary had two children named Eula Estelle and Frank William Francis Greaves. In addition to managing the farm, William opened a general store in the Nut Bush community.

            As time moved on, Frank William Francis Greaves acquired the property. He married Bonnie Lynn Allen and they had three children. As a result of poor health, Frank only owned the land a short time and he gave the land to his son William Francis, Jr. Under William Francis, Jr.’s ownership, the farm cultivated corn, cotton, wheat and oats. In addition, he raised Hereford cattle, geese, ducks, goats and swine.

            Today, Stephen Edward Embry, the great great great great grandson of the founder owns the land. The farm now produces cotton, corn, wheat and turnips. 

Joyner’s Hill Farm

Robert Mitchell

David Mitchell

            The agricultural development of Joyner’s Hill Farm mirrors that of many other West Tennessee Century Farms. In the nineteenth century, the founders produced one perhaps two staple crops for market with all other commodities geared to home consumption. In the early twentieth century, however, the region’s farmers have attempted to produce a diverse range of commercial farm commodities.

            Purchasing 160 acres located in the northeastern corner of Haywood County, Alfred B. Joyner established Joyner’s Hill Farm in 1838. The founder cultivated fields of cotton, corn, hay and small grains. The father of six children, Alfred married twice and his son Bob Joyner inherited the entire farm in 1904. A charter member of the Farm Bureau, Bob “was a progressive, substantial farmer interested in new ideas and methods.” He expanded his property to 423 acres and raised diversified products such as corn, cotton, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, strawberries and livestock. His wife Ada Thweatt was the mother of six children.

            In 1963, Marvin and Virginia Joyner Mitchell received title to 154 acres of the original farm. Virginia is the granddaughter of the founders. Today, Marvin and Virginia’s sons, Robert and David Mitchell are co-owners of the farm.

Lagoon Plantation

Robert Howell Bailey, Sr.

Bill Bailey

Louise Bailey Downing

Lagoon Plantation is one of a very few farms founded by a woman in the early decades of the nineteenth century.  Property rights did not favor women and land was usually owned male members of families.  An exception was Mary Jaoqualine Smith Lee of Virginia.  After the death of her husband, Col. Phillip S. Lee, III.,  she sold the family plantation in Campbell County, Virginia and with her four children, slaves, and supplies began a journey down the Atlantic Cost, crossed over to the Gulf of Mexico, and came up the Mississippi River to West Tennessee.  In Haywood County she bought 500 acres and built a two-story house.  Cotton, corn, wheat, and livestock were the primary crops.  Later Mrs. Lee purchased additional lands in Lauderdale County and moved there. 

Her daughter, Mary Smith Lee Anthony, became the next owner of the land.  Her husband was Col. James Grenshaw Anthony and they were the parents of four children.  The farm supported cotton, wheat, corn, cows and sheep. Their son, Willliam Austin Anthony became the farm’s owner in 1854.  He fathered 12 children, 10 with first wife Milinda and 2 with second wife, Julia Dyson.  One son, Mark, enlisted in the Union Army and another son, William L., fought for the Confederacy.  Family lore maintains this was deliberate so that one son would be on the winning side and the family land would be protected.  Mark died in 1864 in Georgia and William returned to the farm in 1865 to rebuild the plantation.  He built a house that is now being lived in by his descendents.  William Anthony and his wife Calista adopted Benjamin Bailey when he was six years old.  This son became the owner of the farm in 1925.  The current owners of the farm are Martha Bailey and her husband Robert Howell Bailey, Sr.  Mrs. Bailey is the great, great, great, great granddaughter of the founder.  Mr. and Mrs. Bailey live on the farm of 445 acres with their son, Robert Howell Bailey Jr.   Lagoon Plantation produces soybeans, hay and beef cattle.

Photo: The Anthonys on the Lagoon Plantation Century Farm in the 1860s.

Norris Farm

Sara Frances Norris Jernigan

Mary Ann Norris Williams

Betty Jane Norris Morris

Robert Calvin Norris

 Benjamin Edward Norris

            The Norris Farm was co-founded by Benjamin Edward Norris and his son William Stephen Norris. Benjamin Edward was born in South Carolina, and soon after his 1825 marriage to Judith Campbell, the couple moved to Mississippi. In 1844, they moved again, this time to the Memphis area, and B. E. and son William purchased 330 acres about three miles from Bell, Tennessee, in 1866, where they operated a sawmill and grew corn primarily.

            William and his wife, Sophia Drake, became the sole owners of the farm after B. E.’s death. The couple then increased the farm to 1,000 acres while continuing to produce grain and timber.

            The son and grandson of the founders, Benjamin Eddings Norris, was the next owner of the farm. He and his wife Sadie W. Chandler had five children-John, Roy, Paul, Ezell and Winnie. The family produced corn, beans, hogs and cows on the 1,000 acre property. Additionally, it was during this generation that the current farmhouse and barns were built in 1905, just before B. E. Norris invented a “nut or bolt lock” that was patented in 1908.

            Paul Norris became the next generation’s owner of the family farm. He and his wife Fannie Bessie Williams had six children, and to the crops of corn, beans, cotton, hogs and cows, the family added strawberries, becoming the largest producer of this crop in the state. Hence, the Norris Strawberry Farm was well known as a place to “pick your own” berries, according to the historical research of the Center for Historic Preservation.

            Today, Sara Frances Norris Jernigan, Mary Ann Norris Williams, Betty Jane Norris Morris, Robert Calvin Norris and Benjamin Edward Norris-all great-great grandchildren of farm founder Benjamin Edward Norris owns the farm, where cotton and beans are the primary products produced.

Pineyhill Farm

Georgia W. Elizer

In 1876, Joshua A. Jones purchased land in the northeast corner of Haywood County from A. C. Shaw and established a farm. Three years later, he obtained an adjacent section of property from B. M. Williamson. Together, the land totaled 138 acres.  Married to Nancy Wallace Jones, the couple were parents to Mary, William, John, Francis, Joseph and James.  The family raised corn and cotton as primary crops.  Their eldest son, William B. Jones, continued with these main crops where he acquired the property in 1907.  He and his wife, Sallie Warren Jones, had three children, Alma Grace, Fannie Bess and Lurline.

            In 1954, the land was divided into two sections. The northern section was owned by Lurline Jones  and the south section was owned by Georgia W. Elizer, the only child of Alma. While Lurline managed the farm, she was also active in the Home Demonstration Club during the 1950s and 1960s. Georgia and her husband, James T. Elizer,  had two children, Grace and Warren, who were active 4-H Club members.  In 1977, Grace won the national honors for Public Speaking, while Warren received national recognition for his photography in 1981.  In 1987, Lurline passed away and Georgia assumed the total ownership of all the land. Today, Georgia and James manage the property which is devoted to pines, hardwoods, and warm season grasses.

Photo (left): A portrait of Joshua Jones, the founder of the Pineyhill Farm.

Photo (right): William B. Jones, his wife Sallie and their daughter Alma Grace.

S. B. Mann Farm

Sallie B. Mann

            Six miles northeast of Brownsville stands the Mann Farm which Seth Henry and Sallie Wilson Mann founded in 1870. Along with their six children, Seth and Sallie worked 65 acres and produced “what was needed most at that time,” meaning foodstuffs and the basic necessities of life. Seth died in 1885 and Sallie managed the farm until her death in the following year.

            Thomas Jefferson Mann inherited the farm in 1886. Upon his father’s death, William Bryant Mann inherited a parcel of the family land and became the third generation owner. Over the years, William purchased his brothers’ and sisters’ shares and by 1921 he was the sole owner. William married Martha Cobb and they had two daughters. For the next two decades, William’s “love for the farm grew” and in his will of 1949 “he entailed the farm for three generations.”

            In 1964, William and Martha’s Daughter Sally B. Mann became the farm’s owner. Today, Jimmie Lee Lewis works the property. According to Sallie, “he grows cotton, soybeans and squash for the money crops and a few cows and hogs and truck crops for home use.”

Stewart Farm

Maxine L. Stewart

In the nineteenth century, three Dezern brothers immigrated from their native Germany to North Carolina.  They then decided to move west across the mountains to Tennessee.  One brother, James Clancy Dezern, established a farm of just over 200 acres in Haywood County in 1882.  Married to Josephine McCoy, the Dezerns had seven children.  The family raised cotton, cattle and hogs.  Their daughter Hattie became the owner of the farm in 1930. Along with her husband, Floyd Stewart, they raised cotton, cows and corn on the farm. The couple had five children and their son, Floyd Dezern “Pete” Stewart became the third generation to own the farm. After Pete’s death, his wife, Maxine Stewart became the owner.  Today, the farm is pastureland and cattle and rowcrops including cotton.  The land is worked by Pete and Maxine’s son, Floyd Stewart, Jr. and Bradley Booth, the stepgrandson of Maxine.  The Stewart Farm is one of twelve certified Century Farms in Haywood County.

Tucker Place Farm

Dorothy Tucker Dunlap

            The Tucker Place Farm, located adjacent to the town of Stanton, contains distinctive evidence of antebellum West Tennessee architecture. Its farm dwelling, built by George Ware in 1830, is “distinguished by its Corinthian columns, an English boxwood bordered walk, and an unusual spiral ‘backstairs.’ “ Joseph C. C. and Maryanne Tucker established the farm in 1885. The parents of two boys, the Tuckers owned 47 acres which yielded crops of cotton, corn and hay. They also raised mules, horses and dairy cattle. Charles Tucker was the farm’s second generation owner. Together with his wife Almyra Skinner, Charles developed the property into a turn of the century showplace of progressive farming. Acquiring 657 additional acres, Charles planted a large apple orchard. Here, “apples were harvested in June and shipped by early refrigerated railroad cars to urban markets in the northeastern states.” In addition, he owned a “large kennel of hunting dogs” and in 1902, his dog Geneva won a national championship ribbon at a competition in Grand Junction, Tennessee.

            The founders’ grandson William Skinner Tucker was the third owner of Tucker Place. Wed to Mary Holland, William was the father of two daughters. On 502 acres, he continued to breed hunting dogs and manage the apple orchards. In 1931, Dorothy Tucker Dunlap and her husband acquired their first tract of family land. Ten years later, she and her sister Margaret became the farm’s joint owners and in 1983, Dorothy became the full owner of the Tucker Place Farm. She now manages 605 acres which produce cotton, soybeans, hay, horses and timber.