Pioneer Century Farms

From Settlement to Statehood:

Tennessee’s Pioneer Century Farms

Century Farms Established Before or in the Year of 1796

Beginning in the mid-1700s, men and women journeyed to the lands west of the Unaka Mountains where they could establish farmsteads on what appeared to be a frontier of unlimited promise and possibilities. Settlers migrated generally from the colonies of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Their families originated in Scotland, Ireland, and England, primarily, but also Wales, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Many brought African slaves with them, and some free blacks chose to come into the largely unchartered wilderness.

The lands they sought to purchase, clear, plant, and farm had been, for centuries, the hunting and dwelling places of tribes and nations with their own agricultural traditions. Through treaties with the native tribes, and by establishing forms of government including the Watauga Association (1772), these early settlers attempted to impose familiar law and direction in an area removed by distance and culture from the Atlantic colonies and ties to England.

With the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, the conflict between colonists and British soldiers escalated in the east. At the same time, hostilities between natives and settlers increased in the west. In hope of some protection, as well as a more stable governing body, the settlers petitioned North Carolina in 1777 to recognize the western frontier as part of its domain. In that year, Washington County, extending from the mountains to the Mississippi River and covering most of what is Tennessee today, was established as part of North Carolina. A second county, Sullivan, was established in 1779. After the Treaty of Paris officially ended the Revolutionary War in 1783 and the Treaty of Hopewell sought to end the hostilities between the United States and the Cherokees in 1785, the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio, or the Southwest Territory, was created in 1790. Through the provisions of the territorial government, Tennessee moved forward to claim its place as the 16^th state on June 1, 1796.

Within this historic period of settlement, many family farms were established and thousands more were founded in the succeeding decades. Representing all the family farms of Tennessee, including the more than 1,300 certified Century Farms, are farms that trace their origins to 1796 or before. That these farms have remained in the same family and in continuous agricultural production from those pioneer days, more than 200 years ago, until the present is an extraordinary achievement. Through wars, economic depressions, natural disasters, personal tragedies, public projects, and encroaching development, each generation has chosen to maintain their roots in one place. Because of the fortitude, perseverance, enduring labor, contributions, and stewardship of these families, Tennessee is a richer state. We honor and commemorate the founders and heirs of these family lands with the designation Pioneer Century Farms.