Dickson County

            Dickson County was formed in 1803 from the counties of Montgomery and Robertson and named for Congressman William Dickson, a Nashville physician. Charlotte, the county seat, has the oldest courthouse in the state which was built in 1832. Dickson County was once a leading antebellum iron producer in Tennessee and was also the county where the founders of the Cumberland Presbytery established the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. The county is also home to Montgomery Bell State Park, a major recreation area that was established as a project of the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps during the New Deal. Dickson County's oldest Century Farm is the Larkins Farm that was established in 1787. For more information regarding Dickson County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture website.

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

Baker's Burden Farm

Buchanan Farm

Cook's Stokes Farm

Daniel's Dairy Farm

DePriest Farm

Dull Farm

Fiser-Jackson Farm

Harrell's Farm

Hickory Hill Farm

Holland Berry Farm

Hunter Farm

Larkins Farm

Loggins Farm

Miller Farm

Neblett Place Farm

Rocky Top Farm

Spring Forrest Farm

Steele Farm

Stone Hollow Farm

Sugg Farm

Sullivan Farm

Triple G. 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

Baker’s Burden Farm

Carter G. Baker

Ailsie B. McEnteggart

Georgia L. Baker

            Located three miles south of Dickson, the farm was founded by John Dunnagan in 1818. John married Martha “Patsy” Fussell and they had six children. On 533 acres, the family raised hogs, sheep, cattle, geese, and ducks. In addition, they grew corn, oats, tobacco and wheat. 

Their daughter, Ailsey, who married Carter Baker in 1850, received 226 acres from her father’s estate. The children of Ailsey and Carter were Martha, John Carter and Missouri Jane. During their ownership, Ailsey and Carter built a one-room log house that, in later years, was expanded to another room and a kitchen.

According to the family’s reports, the large fireplace in the log room was where all the cooking took place until sometime after 1900 when a stove was purchased for the kitchen. Also per the family, Carter—who also was a distiller— cut timber and made charcoal for the nearby iron forges. Additionally, Carter was also a county constable and served warrants and collected judgments.

In the Civil War, he supported the Confederacy and volunteered for service but was rejected because of a limp from a poorly set broken leg. Carter often traveled to Clarksville, where he received permission to pass through Union lines to trade goods and supplies. After his death, Ailsey lived at the home until her death in 1909.

            John Carter Baker was the third-generation owner of the farm. John married Sarah Adeline Horner Weems, a widow. They were the parents of Ewell Festus, William Jesse, Virgil Carter, Robert Theodore, Nellie Emeline, Elbert Hardy and Jennie Lucille. In addition, Sarah’s youngest daughter from her previous marriage, Victory Tennessee Weems, grew up in the household. The family raised horses, cattle, hogs, geese and chickens as well as growing vegetables, watermelons, corn and apples.

            In the 1940s, John and Sarah’s son, Robert T. Baker, became the owner of the property. Following the death of his father in 1942, Robert rented the homeplace to various people. The family reported that during this time electricity was installed and the house was remodeled. Robert and wife Shirley Greenlaw Baker focused much of their attention on the many improvements they made to their farm, known as Spring Valley, which is adjacent to the original homestead, which became known as “Baker’s Burden.”

The family said a number of tenants lived in the home, with rent as low as $5 a month. In 1959, the house was struck by lightning and burned to the ground.  After Robert died in 1967, his wife Shirley became the owner.

            Today, the great-great-grandchildren of the founder, Carter G. Baker, Ailsie Baker McEnteggart and Georgia L. Baker, own the farm. Currently, Dennis Holland works the land and raises hay and timber. 

Photo: A view of the corn crib on the Baker's Burden Farm.

Buchanan Farm

Henry H. Buchanan

Located on busy Hwy. 48 between Dickson and Charlotte, the Buchanan Farm was founded in 1909 by Matthew “Henry” Buchanan and his wife Minnie Coulter Buchanan.  Both were children of Civil War veterans who moved to the area from Pennsylvania following the war.   In the early part of the twentieth century, the farm was a place where travelers and livestock often rested and enjoyed the good spring water.  In later years, cars some times became stuck in the marshy soil around the creek bottom and Henry and his sons would “be called upon to help get them on their way again.”  The couple had five sons, Coulter, Douglas, Allen, Henry “Hunter,” and Ray and two daughters, Helen and Margaret.  The farm supported hay, corn, cattle, hogs, sheep and poultry. Minnie, like many farm wives, raised poultry for family table as well as for cash income and a photograph from the 1930s pictures her with some of her flock. Timber was also a valuable commodity and the “timber for construction of Mt. Lebanon Methodist Church was sawn by Henry Buchanan.”  From 1953-1976, the farm was a Grade A Dairy farm.

            In 1975, Henry “Hunter” Buchanan became the second generation to own the farm.  He and his wife, Corinne Deal Buchanan, are the parents of Kay, Carol, Jan and Julie. The family has been very active in agricultural organizations. Hunter is a member of the Farm Bureau and the Dickson Farmers Cooperative. Corinne was a member of the Dickson Home Demonstration Club and also a 4-H volunteer. The daughters were all active members of the Dickson County 4-H Club. A barn built in 1920 by the founder is still used along with the sheds that were added by Hunter in 1953.

Photo (left): Minnie Buchanan with her chickens in the 1930s.

Photo (right): A present day view of the landscape on the Buchanan Farm.

Cook’s Stokes Farm

William J. Stokes

            Just North of Cumberland Furnace, William D. and Martha Hickerson Stokes established the Cook’s Stokes Farm in December of 1860. On 157 acres, near the Soules Chapel Church, they raised tobacco, grains, and many types of livestock. William and Martha Stokes were the parents of fourteen children, though only five lived to adulthood.

           Francis Cook Stokes inherited the farm from his parents in 1916. Married twice, Francis fathered three children. In 1935 and 1936 his widow, Clara W. Stokes, and children, William J. Stokes and Jennie Beth Stokes, acquired the property. The farm products continued to be much the same throughout the twentieth century with the addition of timber. In 1976, when the farm became one of the first Tennessee Century Farms, Clara and William J. Stokes managed and operated the farm where they raised tobacco and cattle. Today, William J. Stokes continues to produce a tobacco crop, just as his grandfather did, on the farm founded just before the start of the Civil War.

Photo : Tractor scene on the Cook’s Stoke Farm. Tractors became a necessity on farms in the twentieth century.

Daniel’s Dairy Farm

Johnny and Statia Daniel
Benjamin and Ashley Daniel

Dairying, long a staple of Tennessee agriculture, has declined across the state in recent years.  Daniel’s Dairy Farm, a Grade A Dairy milking 150 Holstein cows, continues the tradition. The dairy is operated on a farm established by James Loggins and his wife Nancy Grimes Loggins on March 11, 1861, just three months before Tennessee voted to secede from the Union.  One story from this troubled time recounts that Rebecca, one of James and Nancy’s ten children, was on her way to a neighboring farm when she saw Union soldiers coming from Miller Hill.  Riding on horseback, she quickly warned her family and neighbors which allowed the women and children time to hide in a nearby cave.  Rebecca’s sister Mary married Joseph C. Daniel who served in the Confederate Army.  The couple, who lived in Perry County, had a son, William James Daniel.  Following his mother’s death in 1861, William returned to Dickson County to live with his grandparents. 

Raised on the 500 acre farm, William Daniel became the next owner of the property.  Married to Mary Agnes Harris, the couple had three children, Henry H., Harris Crawford, and Mary Rebecca.  The Daniels “built an impressive two story home on a hill overlooking the farm.”  On 250 acres they raised timber, tobacco, corn, hay, cattle, mules, and swine.

Henry H. and Mary Rebecca, great grandchildren of the founders, were the next owners.  Henry married Vertrees Lee and Mary Rebecca wed Mallory Matlock.  On around 160 acres they grew grains, hay, tobacco, cattle, and swine.  Harris, brother to Henry H. and Mary Rebecca, died at age 49 leaving a wife and six children.  His oldest son, Lewis Wyatt Daniel, became the primary provider for his mother and siblings at the age of 16.  Later, he purchased the farm from his aunt and uncle.  Lewis and his wife, Mildred Berry Daniel, had 4 children, Benjamin, Johnny, Martha, and Janet.  In 1952, the operation became a Grade A Dairy.  Along with dairy cows, the family grew beef cattle, swine, grains, and tobacco.  The original home burned in 1963 and family photographs and memorabilia were lost in the fire.

 In 1994, Johnny and his wife, Statia Daniel, and son Benjamin became the owners of the farm.  In addition to managing the dairy, they also raise beef cattle, soybeans, grains, and hay. Johnny and Statia built a new home on the site of the original house while Benjamin along with wife Ashley and daughter Whitley live in the home built by Henry and Rebecca Daniel in 1929.   Beginning in 1861, three generations have lived on this farm and today that family tradition continues.  

Photo : Holstein cows graze near a Civil War road bed on the Daniel’s Dairy Farm.

DePriest Farm

J. Wellington DePriest

Just west of Charlotte on Highway 47 is the DePriest Farm, a part of which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Leech-Larkins Farm.  The founder, Daniel Leech (1794-1873), purchased a tract of 276 acres in 1835 and also acquired a number of other tracts of land on which he farmed.  Leech harvested corn and timber to support the operation of the largest distillery in Dickson County.  Martha Norwood Rook, Leech’s wife, gave birth to 11 children.  The Leech family made their home in a large log dwelling.  Just behind the house they set aside land for a family cemetery.  Here the founder and later generations of the family have been buried since 1852.  

Dr. Daniel Rook Leech was the next family owner, operating the farm until his death in 1904.  Dr. Leech “played in important role in the health of the Charlotte community and Dickson County.”  He and his wife, Mary Ann Mathis, had 12 children.   They produced a variety of farm products including tobacco, wheat, corn, oats, and some cotton as well as swine, cattle, and poultry.

In 1911, W. B. Leech sold the farm to his cousin W. Wellington Larkins who made substantial changes to the farm’s landscape.  He constructed an equipment shed and smokehouse in 1915.  The following year he began work on a new farmhouse which remains an important part of the farm today. The vernacular house was designed and built by local craftsman “Fate” Allen.  A stone fence enclosing the family cemetery was erected and a turn of the century barn was moved south of the farmhouse when the state improved and widened Highway 47 in the 1920s.  To support the diverse farm operation, several new outbuildings and a root cellar were added during the 1930s and 1940s.

At the death of W. Wellington Larkins in 1949, his daughter Elizabeth Larkins DePriest purchased the shares of her siblings and began operating the farm along with her husband James DePriest.  Mrs. DePriest, described as a “naturalist” by her friends, is a tireless advocate of land conservation as well as a keeper of family and community history. She continues the daily management of the farm, though in 1988 she conveyed 218 acres to her son J. Wellington DePriest, an engineer with International Steel based in Seattle.  Over 70 acres of the Depriest Farm are in a federal conservation program and 142 acres are in a timber management program.  Portions of bottomlands along the Harpeth River have been declared protected wet lands and hay is grown on about 26 acres. The 1916 house, family cemetery, and 127 acres were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. 

Dull Farm

Bobby W. Corlew

Dorothy O. Corlew

Located about 4 ½ miles east of Charlotte is the Dull Farm that was founded in 1885 by Jobe Pritchett Doty, II and Mary Elizabeth (Morris) Doty. Although the couple had eleven children, four of them died at birth. The children that survived were William C., Allen R., William O., John C., Sallie A., Mary F., and Margaret A.  Jobe died in 1898 and in 1910, Mary Elizabeth Doty married Benjamin Franklin Sensing.  They were the parents of William Thomas, Drury W., Marion J., Hilda and Joseph B.  The farm was divided among these several children.   Over the years, the many descendents of the founders have contributed to Dickson County in various capacities.  Among the family is the late Walter “Buck” Work, former Dickson County School Superintendent and state representative who was the son of William Burr and Mary Florence Doty Work. 

             In 1977, the great grandson of the founder, Bobby Wynn Corlew, became the owner of the farm.  He is the son of James Weatherston Corlew and Vera Pearl Work Corlew.  He recalls the Dull General Store that adjoined the farm on Highway 49 and remembers the house he calls home being built.  Corlew learned to both ride mules and horses and use them to work  the land.  Wynn and his wife Dorothy (Owen) attended Charlotte Elementary and High Schools and were married in 1961.  Wynn worked at the E. I. Dupont plant in Old Hickory and retired from there after thirty-five years of service. After retiring, Wynn and Dorothy moved back to Charlotte from Hermitage and purchased the farm. Wynn and Dorothy have one son, Burton Scott Corlew.  Burton, his wife Veronica (Bradley), and their daughter, Gracee May, also have a home located on the farm.  Currently, the family raises hay and produce.

Photo: A view of the landscape and buildings on the Dull Farm.

Fiser-Jackson Farm

Larry Dale Fiser

Located near Cumberland Furnace is the Fiser-Jackson Farm that was founded in 1900 by J. M. Jackson. The 104 acres produced corn, wheat and tobacco. J. M. was married to Ada E. Jackson. In 1904, John F. Jackson, a cousin, acquired the farm. A year later, the first known family house was built on the property. Under John’s ownership, swine were added to the farm’s operations.  John’s daughter, Maymie Baker and her husband Hershel Baker were the next owners of the land. In 1955, the land was acquired by William Fiser, a great nephew of the founder. Married to Mary Annie Fiser, the couple had two children. On the farm, they raised corn, tobacco, cattle and hogs. Today, the farm is owned by Larry Dale Fiser who, with his cousin Randy Simpkins, manages the farm operations.

Photo: Cattle and Hay Barn on the Fiser-Jackson Farm.

Harrell’s Farm

Robert H. and Lena Harrell

            Across Tennessee and in Dickson County, agriculture began to rebound following the Civil War and hundreds of farms were established in the next decade. In December of 1875 Hannah Buck Wall purchased 50 acres on the Dickson and Montgomery County lines where he and his wife Margaret Proctor Wall settled.  The parents of 13 children, the Walls eventually added another 309 acres in 1882 on which they raised corn, tobacco, sheep, and swine.  Their son, Herman Burney Wall, became the next owner.  He and his wife Hattie Groves Wall had 9 children. A daughter, Edna Wall Harrell her husband S. H. Harrell, and their son, Robert H. Harrell  became the next owners of the farm.  

Robert H. Harrell, who worked for General Motors in Michigan for 38 years, is the current owner.  He and his wife Lena Gail who is from Michigan, now live on the farm and have worked very hard on the property in the last few years.  They have cleared fence rows and pastures, mended and painted fences and gates, repaired existing buildings and constructed new ones. Nine ponds, stocked with blue gill, have been dug on the land to water the cattle.  The farm has a cattle barn built in 1930, a tobacco barn built in 1940 and a remodeled house originally built in 1927.  Mr. and Mrs. Harrell raise tobacco and have a herd of around 70 beef cattle on the 143 acres.

Photo: A rare photograph of matriarch Margaret Proctor Wall.

Hickory Hill Farm

Maria Miller Freeman
Kay Miller Waters

            Augustus E. C. and Elizabeth Goan Miller established a farmstead three miles north of Charlotte in 1869.  The years following the Civil War were a challenge at best for farm families, and tragedy also visited the Millers when five of their 15 children died in infancy.   The parents and their surviving 7 sons and 3 daughters, “surmounted difficulties of Reconstruction through personal integrity and continuous endeavor.”  Progressive farmers, the Millers engineered a water system that automatically brought water several hundred yards for a cave spring for their household use.  The farm was described as a “model of efficiency with use of numerous tools, planned water sheds, crop rotation, and the use of natural fertilizers.”  The Millers regularly participated in community events and attended church.  Elizabeth Miller was an accomplished musician who passed that appreciation on to her children who were also all given academic training. 

        Lorenzo Dowl Miller, son of the founders, became the next owner of the farm.  Married to Barbara Schmitz, the Millers had six children, Myrtle, Maggie, Elizabeth, Lola, Roy, and L. Dowl.  Continuing the progressive improvements begun by his parents, Lorenzo designed a water system using a limestone spring one mile from the farm, to supply water for the livestock and the house.  Installed in 1895, this system was still in use in the 1980s.  World War I and economic panics deferred some of the family’s plans.  From 1910 to 1920, the Millers worked with the county extension agent to implement soil conservation practices including terracing the fields to prevent erosion.  A concrete silo was built in 1913 that remained in use throughout the twentieth century.  State Highway 48 was constructed through the farm beginning in 1929, and the acquisition of the family’s first motorized vehicles provided “opportunities for broader social and educational contacts” along with improved farm to market options.   The Millers opened a school in their home for a time and furnished the teacher with room and board.  Later, they assisted the community with the construction of West Point School.

For the past seventy years, generations of women have owned and managed Hickory Hill Farm. Beginning in 1934, the farm became the property of sisters Lola and Elizabeth Miller Chapman.  Successfully managing the farm through the Great Depression as well as World War II, the Miller Farm first received electrical power in 1941. Over the next six decades, the farm produced fruits, corn, tobacco, vegetables, and sileage as well as sheep, horses, and cattle.  Miss Miller and Mrs. Chapman applied for Century Farm certification of their family farm in 1985. At that time, Miss Miller indicated that the row crops were less emphasized and the focus was on producing better beef cattle.  Today, the 250 acre farm continues to produce tobacco, hay, and cattle and is the legal responsibility of owners Maria Miller Freeman of Knoxville and Kay Miller Waters of Maryland.

Photo: A concrete silo (1913) and barn sit just off busy State Highway 48N which was built through Hickory Hill Farm in 1929.

Holland Berry Farm

Sue Berry
Pat Berry
Peggy Berry
Erma Dean Berry Sears

            Of the nearly 1000 Century Farms certified in Tennessee, more than half have  been owned and operated by women at some time in their history.  The Holland Berry Farm, four miles north of Charlotte, is now owned and managed by Dr. Sue Berry, Miss Pat Berry, Miss Peggy Berry, and  Mrs. Erma Dean Berry Sears, the great-great granddaughters of the founders of their family farm.  William and Mandy Hudson Berry, established a farm in 1873 on property that was part of acreage belonging to Mandy’s family. John Berry inherited the farm from his parents in 1894.   He and his wife Susan Araminta relied on tobacco and dairy products for income to support their eight children.

            Holland Berry acquired the family farm in 1933, selling off a part of it, but continuing to farm 140 acres with his wife, Annie Laura Simpkins and their four daughters.  Dr. Sue Berry explains that her father “never lived or worked anywhere else in his entire life.” He and his wife were “true partners” and Annie Laura worked very hard on the farm, stripping tobacco in season or “growing vegetables which she marketed regularly to a great number of faithful customers.”  Their daughters worked alongside their parents from whom they learned a strong work ethic and how to successfully manage the land.  Though neither of the parents attended school past the eighth grade, they encouraged and supported the education of their daughters who share a total of seven college degrees.  Three of the owners taught school in Nashville but moved back to the farm following their mother’s death in 1991.  They worked with their father to maintain the farm until his death in 2002.

            Today the women of Holland Berry Farm, all born in an upstairs bedroom of the 1916 house, see to the daily management of the farm.  They have a vegetable garden and lease acreage to neighboring farmers for hay, tobacco, and cattle. Much of the 140 acres is forested.  The buildings are well maintained and some have been adapted for other uses including the “milk parlor” which has found new life as an exercise room.  The Berry sisters enjoy being together and share memories with others of their home place.  Like their parents and the generations before them, they try to be good stewards of the land.

Photo: The Berry Sisters were all born in an upstairs bedroom of the 1916 house.             

Hunter Farm

Agnes Hunter Powell

            One of the “charter” Century Farms registered in 1976 by Agnes Hunter Powell of Cumberland Furnace, the Hunter Farm was in operation by 1847.  Allan and Margarette Hunter and their two children lived on the 202 acres raising tobacco, corn, vegetables, beef cattle, and swine.  James hunter acquired 185 acres from his parents on which he and his wife, Sarah Bull Hunter, lived and raised eight children.  The land was sold to J.H. Hunter in 1905, and he farmed the land until 1927 when he sold it to A.D. Hunter.

Agnes Hunter, sister of A.D. Hunter, and her husband, Melburn F. Powell, purchased her family’s farm in 1941.  Agnes, who was not raised on the farm but often visited her grandparents who lived there, explains that the land was “very run down when we bought it, and we had to reclaim the fields.”  Over the years, fighting against erosion and neglect, the Powells made “every inch of the land tillable except the woodland.”  They produced hay, beef cattle, vegetables, and tobacco.  Mrs. Powell recalls that her father, Dan Hunter, helped to build the L&N Railroad spur to Cumberland Furnace through the family farm.  He lived to see the rails taken up and a paved road built on the railroad bed.  The Hunter Farm was recognized with the Dickson County Soil Conservation Home of the Year Award in 1975 and the Farm Leadership Award from the Dickson County Chamber of Commerce in 1985.

At the age of 94, Mrs. Powell continues to manage the farm, on which hay and timber are produced and the tobacco allotment is leased.  Mrs. Powell reports that she could have sold the farm many times, but “that wasn’t what I had in mind.”  She has fond memories of good times on the farm, especially when growing up and later when working the farm with her late husband.  She sums up her love of the land saying “I thank God so much for giving us this speck of earth to be stewards over while we lived here.”

Photo:  The farm lane leads to the hay and stock barn.

Larkins Farm

Leslie D. Larkins, Jr.

            Founded in 1787 by John Larkins of North Carolina, the farm originally encompassed 1,000 acres. Larkins, a Revolutionary War veteran and the first treasurer of Dickson County, formed in 1803, married Sarah McAdow. The Larkins had four sons who received shares of the farm. James Larkins inherited his 250 acres in 1805. Here he raised corn, hay, wheat and cattle.

            The current owner, Leslie  D. Larkins, Jr., remembers many stories handed down in his family. He tells how his great-grandfather refused to sign a document presented to him by Union soldiers stating that he would not help the Confederates. Upon hearing his reply, “I help everybody,” the soldiers threw him into an icy creek and marched him to Charlotte. By the time he reached the county seat, his clothes were frozen to him. He contracted pneumonia and died about six weeks later.

            The property has been worked and maintained by successive generations through both good and difficult times. Leslie D. Larkins, Sr., the fifth generation owner, acquired 215 acres in 1940. The elder Larkins and his son, L. D., Jr. and his wife, Jean, applied for Century Farm certification in 1976. As of 2008, L.D. Jr., owns the farm and his son Kevin Dale manages the day to day operations. Not only is this a busy and productive twenty-first century family farm, but the Larkins also take time to appreciate and preserve their history and the rural landscape.  

Photo (top left): The farm house on the Larkins Farm.

Photo (top right): Leslie and Jean Larkins receive a certificate, booklet and letter of congratulations from (Left) Terry Oliver, Deputy Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Governor Phil Bredesen at the Farmland Legacy Conference on October 10, 2008.

Loggins Farm

Jewell Loggins

            Thomas Jefferson Loggins and Annie Daniel Loggins founded the Loggins farm in 1898. Located north of Burns, the 100 acres produced corn, wheat, hay, cotton, cattle and hogs. The couple had three children,  Richard,  Dorie, and  Clarence.

            In 1950, Clarence acquired the land. During his ownership, he raised much the same livestock and crops as his parents.   Clarence married Irene Estes and the couple had two children.

            In 1993, Jewell Loggins, the grandson of the founders became the third generation to own the farm.  Today, Jewell works the land and produces hay, timber, corn and truck farming.  In addition to managing the farm, Jewell has been a member of the Dickson County Farm Bureau since 1959 and he served as the director for two years.  Jewell lives on the farm with his wife, Madolyn Johnson Loggins.  Daughter Laura Loggins Travis, her husband Brian Travis, and their sons also live on the farm.  The farm has many structures such as a barn, a corn crib, a grain building, a wood shed, a chicken house and the farm house that were built by previous generations of the Loggins family.

Photo: Landscape Scene and Outbuildings on the Loggins Farm.

Miller Farm

James A. and Joyce Miller

While many Century Farms owners trace their lineage to the thousands of Scots-Irish immigrants that settled Tennessee, the Miller family has roots in Saxony where the founder A. E. C. Miller came from his home in Gotha to Pennsylvania in 1837.  He and his wife Elizabeth Goin married in 1851 and moved to Tennessee with nine children in 1869.  Altogether the Millers had a total of fifteen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood.

A Pennsylvania-Deutsche bank barn was built in 1890 to take advantage of the natural topography.  The first floor and loft are easily accessible from the top of the rise while the ground floor is reached from the fields below. Built as a hog barn, it has served many uses over the years.  A second barn built during the same period for hay and mules also has elements that reflect the founder’s ethnic origins.   Like most successful farmers, the Millers have diversified their operations over the years to accommodate changing markets and to take advantage of new and improved technology. Around 1900, the Millers added honeybees and sorghum cane to their inventory. Then during the 1930s, production shifted to wheat.  The family participated in federal conservation programs through the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to build terraces and dams in their fields to curb the erosion of fertile topsoil and also to take advantage of phosphate-based fertilizers. During the Great Depression, the Miller farm was a demonstration farm for progressive farming methods.  During this time a variety of fruit trees were added to the landscape. In the 1940s, the focus changed to dairy cattle and a modern milking barn with three electric milking machines was built. The farm continued to operate as a dairy until the 1980s when the shift to beef cattle began.

The founder A. E. C. Miller transferred the farm to two of his sons, A. L. Miller and V. B. Miller in 1888.  V. A. Miller, son of A. L. Miller, received a portion of the property in 1940 and purchased the remaining portion from heirs in 1944.  James A. Miller, son of V. A. Miller, has owned the property since 1979.   His wife of many years Joyce and their children, Debby and Mike, continue to be involved in the daily life of the farm.  Mike works with his father on the farm and Debby teaches at Charlotte Elementary.  Debby’s daughter Leah Stewart represents another generation who continues the traditions of hard work and love of the land practiced by her Germanic ancestors.  The family’s patriarch, James A. Miller, continues to believe that “If you take care of the land, it will take care of you.”

Photo: Overview of the Miller Farm.

Neblett Place Farm

Rhoba Neblett- Harvey
Martha Neblett Wall

James R. Neblett and Martha Grimes Neblett founded this historic farm in 1893 by acquiring an established farm of 111 acres on which was a dog-trot log dwelling (circa 1812)  along with  log outbuildings dating to the early nineteenth century.  Because Neblett, a civil engineer was often away working on railroad and road assignments, Martha operated the farm along with her two sons, Herschel and John B.   Like many farm women, she added to the much-needed cash income by producing butter and eggs which she sold or bartered for items not produced on the farm.  She also collected black walnuts from the many trees on the farm and sold them at the Charlotte Mercantile.

John B. Neblett returned to live on the family farm in 1924 after completing a degree in civil engineering with a minor in agriculture at the University of Tennessee.  John, like his father, worked on road projects across Tennessee and was the chief engineer for the development of Montgomery Bell State Park.  By the time John and his wife Augusta Tippit Neblett assumed ownership of the farm in 1935, it covered nearly 200 acres.  Progressive farmers, the Nebletts terraced fields, constructed natural wind breaks that also served as fencing, built a pond for livestock, and practiced crop rotation.  Because of these successful methods, the farm was designated as an experimental farm by the Agricultural Extension Service in 1940.  New breeds of livestock, such as pure bred Herefords, Polled Herefords, and Shropshire sheep were raised along with new and improved strains of tobacco and wheat.  The Nebletts believed in the “Better Home, Better Farms” philosophy and modernized the main dwelling house taking advantage of new and improved technology.

After John Neblett died in 1951, Augusta continued as sole owner and manager of the farm for many years. In 1994 she observed that “As the nature of farming changed and share-cropping has become obsolete, cultivating through rental has allowed the continuing use of the land.”  Following Augusta Neblett’s death, her daughters, Rhoba Neblett-Harvey and Martha Neblett Wall inherited the farm.  The sisters have divided the property and each lives on her portion of the farm as they continue to adhere to their mother’s philosophy of “preserving our rural heritage through good conservation practices.”  The Neblett Place Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places 1995 for its architectural and agricultural significance.

Photo: In the foreground is one of the remaining nineteenth century buildings.

Rocky Top Farm

R. Philip Buckner

Jerry Buckner

On October 14, 1908, Ezekial “Zeke” Hickerson Buckner founded the Rocky Top Farm in the Mt. Zion community.  Married to Kate McCurdy Buckner, they had eight children. Their names were Clemmie, Eldon, Eugene William, Kathlene, Henry McCurdy, and Roy.   On a farm of nearly 100 acres the family raised beef cattle, mules, pigs, chickens and horses.  In addition, they grew dark fired tobacco, corn, hay and wheat. According to the family, Zeke owned a “beautiful, large black stud horse and a jack” that were used for breeding purposes. Many local farmers brought their mares to the farm. Although Zeke raised horses and mules for his own use, he sold mules at the yearly  Mule Day in Columbia.  The farm also served as a community hog-killing place.  With the first really cold weather, farm families from the area would arrive and help each other process the hogs.  The farm was also known for making apple cider.  Zeke bought a cider mill and many members of the community would bring wagon loads of apples to grind and press into apple juice and some of the fruit would be processed for vinegar.

            The second generation to own the farm was Ezekiel’s and Kate’s youngest child, Roy.  He and his wife Virginia Weems Buckner had three children: Jeanette B. Yates, Roy Philip Buckner and Jerry W. Buckner. Under Roy’s ownership, the farm business continued with horses, mules, pigs and apple cider. In addition, Roy purchased two adjoining farms and raised and cured both  burley and dark fired tobacco. He also continued to grow corn, hay and wheat. Roy and Virginia had the house wired for electricity and added a modern kitchen.

            On April 8, 2008, Roy Buckner, at age 92, divided the original farm between his two sons.   Phil and Jerry and their families live on the farm.  In  addition to managing the farm, Phil served as the manager of Dickson Farmers Co-op in Dickson for 32 years while his wife Sandy Herndon Buckner taught school in Vanleer, Tennessee.  Both retired in 2005.  Phil and Sandy have three sons, Chris, Ben and Sam, and seven grandchildren.  Currently, Phil and Sandy raise beef cattle, bob-white quail, setter and pointer hunting dogs on their farm which they have renamed “Seven Maples.” They also grow hay and truck patch gardens for Farmers Market produce.  Jerry teaches in Nashville and he and Bonnie Dawson Buckner have two children and three grandchildren.  The Buckners continue to use a hand made cider press.

Photo (Top Left): Portrait of Ezekial and Kate McCurdy Buckner.

Photo (Top Right): Phil and Roy Buckner with apple cider press.

Spring Forrest Farm

Scott Sanders

Sanders Family Partnership, LP

The Spring Forrest Farm is located four miles north of Highway 70W and was established by John West in 1808. On 185 acres, the farm produced hay, grain, tobacco and livestock. Married to Sarah West, the couple had eleven children. Their eldest child, Susan West, married John Sanders and he acquired the property in 1836. During his ownership, a new log cabin was built in the front yard and the original dwelling was torn down. John lived and farmed the property until his death in 1848. Susan continued to live in the house and run the farm until her death in 1876. During the Civil War, three of their sons,  John J., Thomas Berry and Henry G. Sanders, fought for the Confederacy.   Henry died in an Illinois prison camp.   John was severely injured in the Battle of Franklin, but survived.  After the war, John and Thomas Berry returned to the family home and farmed together. By 1872, the farm was willed to John and Thomas Berry. In 1894, the brothers decided to split the farm into two tracts of approximately 200 acres each. Thomas Berry took the property lying on the west side and John J. took the property on the east side.

In 1908, one of Thomas’s sons, Van. D. Sanders, acquired the farm. According to the family, Van earned the money to purchase the land by working in New York as a telegraph lineman. Married to Stella Johnson from a neighboring family in 1910.  The couple had two sons, Harris Walker and Charles Lawrence Sanders.  In addition to farming, Van and Stella set up a country store in one room of their house for the residents of the community.  In 1930, Stella registered the farm with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture as the “Spring Forest Farm.”  In 1941, Harris and Lawrence built a new home on the farm for their parents. The new home had modern conveniences such as indoor plumbing, electricity and modern appliances. Although the new home had many comfortable amenities, Van and Stella did not “feel at home” in their new dwelling and so they moved back across the road to the comfortable log home that they had known for many years.  Eventually, Harris and his family moved into the new house and he became the sole owner of the farm. Harris was married to Geraldine Harris Sanders and they had one son, Dan Harris Sanders.

After Harris’s death, Dan, his wife Lois U. Sanders and their children, Scott and Angela, assumed the responsibilities of the cattle and crops and began a revitalization of the farm. Over the next twenty years, they built a new home, renovated the original log home and barn and added new fences to the farm. The ownership of the farm stayed with Geraldine Sanders until 1999 when she transferred it to the Sanders Family Partnership LP.  In 2000, Angela (Angie) married Andrew Thompson on the family farm and they now have two children, Andrew Harris and Anna Elizabeth. In a statement on the history of the farm prepared by Angie, she writes, “The family members that make up the Sanders Family Partnership plan to continue to operate and responsibly manage the farm raising livestock, timber, and hay for many generations to come.” 

Photo: A view of the Spring Forrest Farm in 1937.

Steele Farm

Alice Steele
Janelle S. Turner
Glen T. Steele
David Steele

When James Steele returned to his native Dickson County after the Civil War, he purchased around 225 acres just south of Charlotte in January of 1866.  Here he and his wife Permelia Sanders, parents of six children, produced corn, tobacco, and livestock.  In 1879 the Steeles donated land for a building to house a community school and church. R. Sam Steele, their son, inherited the farm in 1919.  He continued the family’s contributions by serving as a county magistrate, Sunday School superintendent, and also donated land for construction of a public school in 1924.  He and wife Genie Donegan worked to expand the farm to 501 acres where they raised tobacco, corn, hay, cattle, and swine. Another “charter” Century Farm, the Steele Farm was certified in 1976 for owners Glen, John, and David Steele who acquired the property in 1973.

The Steele Farm in the 21^st century is described by the family as a “fully functioning farm” and is fortunate to have several generations involved in the operations and enjoyment of the property.  John D. Steele and Lizzie Steele Shelton are the surviving grandchildren of the founders, and share in the ownership of the farm.  Alice Steele, 92-year-old widow of Glen D. Steele, continues to manage a small herd of beef cattle and the hay crop on her acreage. Alice and Glen’s children, Janelle S. Turner, Glen T., and David are also part owners of the farm.   David received a degree in agriculture from the University of Tennessee and returned home to manage a large part of the farm. He and his wife Brenda opt to raise beef and swine with the animals’ welfare in mind.  For example, beef from the Steele Farm is free of huge doses of antibiotics often administered through feed, and the herds graze on pastures rather than being confined to large stock barns.  Other owners of portions of the farm are Sara Jean Russell and Nancy Russell Alexander, daughter and granddaughter of Lizzie, and Ellie Turner Tucker. Jamin Turner, at the age of eight, represents the sixth generation of his family to live on the farm where a tradition is to gather each spring for a “dogwood” ride around the farm to view the many trees and gather blossoms.  

The Steele Farm retains many of its older buildings including a log barn that was built by the founders.  A small dwelling known as the “Tollgate House” remains from the time it was operated by the founders’ son, John Steele.  Until 1925, Steele collected fees from travelers using the turnpike between Charlotte and Dickson.

Photo: Swine on the Steele Farm.

Stone Hollow Farm 

Robert and Mary Stone

Near the Montgomery County line about four miles from Cumberland Furnace, a farm of 93 acres was established not long after the beginning of the twentieth century.   Frank Hardiman Stone paid $850 for the property in 1905.  Married to Addie Shayden Stone, the couple had ten children. Their son, Robert F. Stone was the next generation to own the land.  He and his wife, Anna Belle Stone, had three children.   In 1991, the grandson of the founder, Robert L. Stone, and his wife Mary acquired the property. Today, they continue the long tradition of raising tobacco just as his father and grandfather did.  Robert, the current Mayor of Dickson County, and Mary live on the farm in a house built in 1860. 

Sugg Farm

William and Corinne Sugg

William Wade and Corinne G. Sugg make their home in an 1880s house which is situated on 232 acres that have been in his family since 1851.  Eight miles southwest of Dickson, John and Mary Boaz Suggs, parents of nine children, began raising corn, hay, sorghum cane, and livestock on their farm.  Like most families in Dickson County and across the South, the war brought hardship and loss to the Suggs. Two of their sons, James T. and Samuel W. were killed during the war. 

Thomas Jefferson Sugg became the farm’s next owner in 1882 and built the two-story frame dwelling where the current owners live.  Drawing on family history, William Sugg explains that “timber was cut from the place and stored for approximately a year until it became seasoned out.”   Master carpenter Vance Austin was employed for the year that it took to complete the substantial house.  The Suggs operated a sawmill during this time to provide the lumber and millwork for the project. William Sugg also notes that “at the time this home was built, it was one of a few farm houses to have been painted white.”

Thomas Jefferson and Sarah Lavinia Sugg and their family of eight children made their home in the large white house and prospered in the last decades of the nineteenth century.  Well-known as horse and mule breeders, the family also produced sorghum cane and sheep, hogs, and cattle on the farm that was considered a showplace in the county. 

John B. Sugg, grandson of the founders, and his wife Josie continued most of the farming traditions and same crop production during their time as owners as did their daughter Irene and her husband John Pack in their turn.  William and Corinne acquired the property in 1971.  The Suggs enjoy living in the remodeled and stately late nineteenth century house and they have also restored the brick potato house which dates from the same period.  The Suggs primarily grow hay to support a small beef cattle herd on their 153-year-old farm. 

Photo (top right) Potato house ca. 1882.

Sullivan Farm

Bobby and Hilda Nesbitt Sullivan

In 1796 Jeremiah Nesbitt purchased approximately 1000 acres on Yellow Creek in Dickson County from land grants owned by Hezekiah Barnes and Edward Dickson. Nesbitt, just 21, and his three brothers, Robert, John and Nathan, immigrated from Ireland and Scotland to settle near each other.  It was in Nathan’s home that the “first meeting to organize local government in Charlotte” was held. The name of Nesbitt’s first wife is not known but his second wife is believed to have been Elizabeth Williamson. Many records were destroyed in the tornado that hit Charlotte, the county seat, in 1830 making it difficult to trace some of the county’s early settlers. It is known, however, that Nesbitt fathered eleven children and ten survived to adulthood. Nesbitt’s sons fought in the Civil War, and it was during this period that original log house was burned.

Through the years, the land was divided among the descendents, many of whom still live in the area today. Hilda Nesbitt Sullivan and her husband Bobby own one of the larger tracts, 385 acres, of the original farm. They grow hay and beef cattle and note that the log house, built to replace the one burned during the Civil War, still stands.

Photo (top left): Bob and Hilda Sullivan receive a certificate, booklet, and letter of congratulations from (Left) Terry Oliver, Deputy Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Agriculture and Governor Phil Bredesen at the Farmland Legacy Conference on October 10, 2008. 

Photo (top right): Pasture as you approach Sullivan Farm.

Triple G. Farm

David Gilmore

Located three miles west of Vanleer is the farm that was established by Samuel F. Gilmore in 1877.  A descendent of Matthew Gilmore who came from the Carolinas and then eventually settled in Dickson County, Samuel was born and raised in the county and lived in the community that was called Danielsville.  During the Civil War, Samuel joined the Confederate army and served as a private riding with 10^th Calvary in Company E for four years.

On 188 acres, Samuel and his wife Jeraldine Mitchell raised cows, chickens and corn. The couple had seven children and their son, Marcus Claiborne Gilmore became the second generation to own the farm.   His future wife, Julia Bone, was a student at Cloverdale Academy, just outside of Vanleer, where she was studying to be a teacher.   The family has letters that passed between Marcus and Julia during this time that tell much about the family and their activities.  After they married, the couple constructed a two-story white clapboard house with a stone fireplace overlooking the spring on Bear Creek. In 1904, Marcus began to build a barn for the farm, but died suddenly.  Julia, who was pregnant at the time, was left with two small daughters and a large farm with crops and livestock. Despite the difficulties, Julia was a resourceful woman who managed the farm, raised her three children, and looked after her elderly mother-in-law and handicapped brother-in-law.  To support herself and her children, she sold eggs, chickens, rented out the mill, and raised corn and cattle.

At her death, Julia left the farm to her three children, Vera, Katrine, and W.F. Claiborne.  Eventually, her son, who was born two months after his father’s sudden death,  bought out his sisters and became the sole owner of the farm. Along with his wife Dorothy Winona Spradlin Gilmore, the couple and their son, Clayborn David, raised cows, chickens, corn, hay, horses, mules, pigs, tobacco, cotton and vegetables.  While managing the farm, Mr. Gilmore also was an active member of Cedar Hill United Methodist Church, the Vanleer Masonic Lodge, and Eastern Star.  In addition, he served as a Dickson County Commissioner and was a founding board member of the Dickson County Farm Bureau. 

            In 1968, Clayborn David Gilmore, the great grandson of the founder, acquired the land. In addition to managing the farm, David was a teacher and a principal in the county school system. Until his father died in 1979, the two farmed together and raised cows, hogs, sheep and chickens. They also cultivated tobacco, hay, corn and many assorted vegetables. David and Peggy Ann Milam married in 1952.  They have two children, Keith and Karla.  Today, David is retired from the Dickson County Board of Education, but he continues to raise cows, hay, corn, tobacco and a wide variety of vegetables. A farm house and a log barn that was built in the 1900s, as well as a stock barn, a corn crib and a tobacco barn constructed in the 1930s and 1940s are some of the buildings in the farm complex.