Scott County

            Scott County was established in 1849 and its county seat is Huntsville. The largest town in the county is Oneida and it once served as a way station on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad line. In addition, it served as a shipping point for timber, coal, farm products and livestock.  In the western part of the county lies the Big South Fork National River and Recreation area that attracts many hikers, rafters, kayakers and canoers. For more information regarding Scott County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture website.

For a brief historical sketch of each farm, click on the farm name.

Chitwood Farm

Jerome D. Reed Farm

Chitwood Farm

James L. Chitwood, Jr.

            About six miles south of the Kentucky border in Scott County stands the Chitwood Farm, which Lazareus and Mary Leeper Chitwood established in 1813.  Chitwood, one of the county’s early settlers, “raised sheep, hogs, and cattle as well as corn for fodder.” His eldest son James L. Chitwood became the farm’s second generation owner. He and his wife Elizabeth Richardson were the parents of six children and on their 100 acres the family raised the same crops and livestock as the founder.

            Little changed on the farm during the ownership of James L. Chitwood, Jr. The husband of Elizabeth Strunk, James fathered eight children and his son Reuben Chitwood acquired fifteen acres of the original family land in 1952. Reuben farms an additional 100 acres near the family tract and raises cattle, hay and corn.

Jerome D. Reed Farm

On July 3, 1880, Joel Colby Reed founded a 200 acre farm located south of Oneida.  Married to Emily Smith Reed in 1871, the couple had eleven children.  The family grew cattle, hogs, soybeans, hay and corn and kept bees.  Still owned by the family is Joel’s  1891 reference book on beekeeping.   The son of a Union soldier,  Reed was very active in the community and he donated land for the Niggs Creek School, the Hazel Valley church and the Hazel Valley cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in Oneida.   Joel also leased his land to different companies such as the Oneida and Western Railroad and the Oneida Stave and Lumber Company.  The Right of Way he  deeded to the Oneida and Western Railraod, which remained solvent until the 1950s, is now included in the boundaries of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.

            The next owner of the farm was Joel’s and Emily’s eldest son, Irel Joseph Reed. Married to Martha Ann Phillips Reed, the couple had seven children. In addition to farming, Irel was a blacksmith.  Irel made horse-drawn plows, hand-hewn wooden mallets, cowbells and other farming tools.  Irel also worked as  storekeeper in the community originally known as Reed’s Station.  Many of the items grown and produced on the farm such as butter, honey, Irish potatoes and eggs were sold at the store.  Irel also kept journals of day-today activities, births, deaths, marriages, and store accounts which are great sources of family and community history.   Irel planted hickory and walnut trees and various apple trees, many of which still produce nuts and fruits today.  A rare Balm of Gilead Poplar also grows on the farm.  Martha Reed used the sap of this tree to make a salve that was said to cure many ailments.

The third generation to own the land was Jerome James Reed, the second son of Irel and Martha Reed.  Jerome raised hogs and a garden that include a large pumpkin patch.   In 1958, Jerome worked with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to construct a nearly one acre pond that has been stocked with Bream, Bass, and Catfish over the years.  Jerome also was a conductor on the Tennessee Railroad. 

            Today, the land is owned by Jerome Denton (J.D.) Reed, the great-grandson of the founder.  J. D. worked as a salesman for H. T. Hackney Grocers in Oneida and retired from Lay Packing Company in Knoxville in 1996. L. D. is married to Bertha Brewster Reed who grows a large annual vegetable garden that is admired by neighbors.  She continues to can and preserve the garden produce.  Today J. D and Bertha and their daughter Myra, who prepared the well-documented Century farm application,  and her husband Robert Marcum, Jr. live on the farm.   The Reeds continue to  produce hay to sell to cattle farmers. J. D. owns the majority of his grandfather’s original farm equipment and the 1937 English-style barn is used for storage.  Myra Reed writes, “the family is “extremely proud of their farming heritage as well as their Reed ancestors.”

Photo (top): Joel and Emily Reed, founders of the Jerome D. Reed Farm.

Photo (middle): Barn built by Irel Reed in 1937.