For a brief historical sketch of each farm, click on the farm name.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
Photo (left): Minnie Buchanan with her chickens in the 1930s.
Photo (right): A present day view of the landscape on the Buchanan Farm.
William J. Stokes
Just North of
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.
Johnny and Statia Daniel
Benjamin and Ashley
Daniel
Dairying, long a staple of
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.
Photo :
J.
Just
west of
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
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
Photo: Farmhouse on the Depriest Farm
Bobby W. Corlew
Dorothy O. Corlew
Located about 4 ½ miles east of
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
ride both 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. After their purchase of the farm, Wynn and Dorothy returned to Dickson County from Hermitage. Wynn
continued to work at the E. I. Dupont
plant in Old Hickory and retired from there after thirty-five years of
service. Wynn and Dorothy have one son, Burton Scott Corlew.
Photo: A view of the landscape and buildings on the Dull 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.
Robert H. and
Across
Robert
H. Harrell, who worked for General Motors in
Photo: A
rare photograph of matriarch Margaret Proctor Wall.
Maria Miller Freeman
Kay Miller Waters
Augustus
E. C. and Elizabeth Goan Miller established a farmstead three miles north of
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,
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
Photo: A
concrete silo (1913) and barn sit just off busy State Highway 48N which was
built through Hickory Hill Farm in 1929.
Sue Berry
Pat Berry
Peggy Berry
Erma Dean
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
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
Photo: The
Berry Sisters were all born in an upstairs bedroom of the 1916 house.
B. G. Howell
Bobbie M. Howell
Gilpen
and Nancy Stringfellow Howell, the second owners of the farm, also had nine
children. They acquired the 55 acres on which they raised hay, cattle, pigs,
chickens and vegetables. In 1895, Gilpen and Nancy gave an acre of land next to
their home to build the Pleasant View Church of Christ, which still stands.
The
grandson of the founding couple, Benjamin Gilpen Howell and his wife, Alice
Brim Howell, were the third generation to make their home on the farm. They had
two sons, Samuel and Robert Turner Howell. Together, they raised hay,
vegetables, cows, pigs and chickens.
Benjamin
died in 1898 and his son, Samuel, died the following year. Alice operated the
farm until son Robert Turner married Nellie Auldridge in 1917. With their four
children, James Edward, Avis, B. G. and Roy Lee, they continued to raise many of
the same crops, with the addition of wheat.
The current owners, B. G. and wife Bobbie J. Mash Howell, raise hay and cows on the 55 acres first farmed by his ancestors 150 years ago. A log home built between 1850 and 1860 was continually occupied by the family until 1973 and is being renovated.
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.
William Wayne McIntire
 |
Benjamin Franklin and Susan Brown Jordan married on January 3, 1860 and soon made their home in a log house on the 100 acres purchased on September 25 of the same year. They purchased two adjoining lots “on the waters of Beaverdam Creek of Turnbull,” one of which was owned by Susan’s first cousin, William Brown. As the family grew, the Jordans built a frame house about 100 yards from the log house. When Susan died in 1882, at the age of 40, she was the first to be buried in the Ben F. Jordan Family Cemetery. Ultimately, Ben and seven of the couple’s ten children were buried here.
In 1900, the Jordans’ ninth child, Anna Ardella, married a neighbor, William “Will” James McIntire. After Ben passed away leaving the farm to his children, Will McIntire purchased their interest in the 100 acres and began farming it with Anna. The couple moved to the Jordan house after acquiring it in 1908 but in the late 1910s, it caught fire and burned to the ground. For a time, they rented a log house on an adjacent property. Later they purchased the lot where the house was located as well as 80 acres. Here they built a white frame house using recycled lumber from the Nails Creek School. Anna taught in the rural community school while Will maintained a riding horse until his death at age 75 in 1949.
At that time, one of Will and Anna’s children, William “Billy” Andrew inherited the farm. He and his wife Laticia Garton had two children, Ann and Wayne. While serving in the Army during World War II, Billy designed a pole barn; he built it upon his return from war and it has been in continuous use for hay storage, cattle feeding, and cow herd maintenance. After inheriting the farm, Billy worked to reclaim significant gullies that have developed over the decades of farming; for his work, he was awarded the “Dickson County Tree Farmer of 1960.” An example of a successful endeavor was the planting of many acres of loblolly pine seedlings over eroded slopes. In the 1950s and 1960s, Billy also developed and maintained one of the few registered shorthorn beef herds in the county.
Today, the 180-acre farm is owned by two generations. The founding couple’s great grandson, Wayne and his wife Jamey Weems McIntire, acquired fifty acres in 1987; at that time, they built their current home. The remaining ninety acres of the farm is owned by the founder’s great-great grandsons, Will and Morgan Taylor who live on their part. All 180 acres are maintained as one working farm by Edgar Meek, a neighbor who grows hay and maintains a beef herd.
In July 2010,
the current owners and their families gathered to picnic and celebrate the Ben
Jordan Homestead Sesquicentennial. The family relates that “the farm history was
presented and impressed upon the future generations present.”
 |
Leslie D. Larkins, Jr.
 |
Founded
in 1787 by John Larkins of
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
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: 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.
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.
James A. and Joyce Miller
While many Century Farms owners trace
their lineage to the thousands of Scots-Irish immigrants that settled
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.
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
After John Neblett died in 1951,
Photo: In the foreground is one of the remaining nineteenth century buildings.
Timothy G. Petty
Michael S. Petty
Patrick H. Petty
Mont and his wife Nancy were the
parents of six children. Their youngest
son, Clint, purchased 218 acres of his parents land in 1934 and continued to raise
familiar crops and livestock. Clint’s
family included his wife, Hallie Davidson, and two daughters, Nancy and Montie
Sue. After fifty years of ownership by Clint,
the farm passed to Nancy in 1986. Nancy
and her husband, Oscar Glenn Petty, continued to raise corn, hay, and cattle as
her parents and grandparents had, although they no longer raised hogs and
mules. Oscar and Nancy had three
children, Michael, Timothy, and Patrick.
In 2000, one hundred years after the farm was established, the great grandchildren of the founders acquired the land. Mike, Tim, and Pat with their wives, Andrea, Gina, and Rhea continue to work the land. The three brothers are partners of Petty Family Limited Partnership, established in 2000. Currently the farm operation consists of beef cattle and 200 acres of hay and pasture land. Many of the farm’s original buildings including the house, livestock barn, smoke house, chicken house and corn crib remain on the property.
Photo: This is the original barn on the Piney River Farm.
R. Philip Buckner
Jerry Buckner
 |
 |
On October 14, 1908, Ezekial “Zeke” Hickerson Buckner founded the
Rocky Top Farm in the
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
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
Photo (Top Left): Portrait of Ezekial and Kate McCurdy Buckner.
Photo (Top Right): Phil and Roy Buckner with apple cider press.
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
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
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. 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.
Alice
Steele
Janelle
S. Turner
Glen
T. Steele
David
Steele
When James Steele returned to his
native
The Steele Farm in the 21st
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
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.
Robert and Mary Stone
Near the
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
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.
Bobby
and Hilda Nesbitt Sullivan
 |
 |
In 1796 Jeremiah Nesbitt purchased approximately 1000 acres on
Yellow Creek in
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.
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
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
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
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.
 |
After Lennie’s death in 1941, Mellie inherited the farm.
She continued to manage the farm and operate the sawmill with the help of
her three sons. When Mellie died in
1955, the four siblings inherited this farm as well as other properties in
Houston County.
In 1956, Wilton Williams and his wife, Tennie Mae Waynick, purchased the
farm, the properties in Houston County, and a tractor from his brothers and
sister. The family raised dark-fired and burley tobacco on the farm as well as
corn, hay, timber, mules, hogs, goats, chickens, and vegetables.
Wilton continued to work the farm until
he became ill at the age of 80. His
wife, Tennie Mae, was a member of the Home Demonstration Club for many years.
Wilton and Tennie were the parents of three children, Patsy, Jimmy and
Donna. All three children were
members of 4-H. Three generations of
the family have been members of the Farm Bureau.
 |
After Wilton’s death in 2006, Tennie Mae inherited the farm.
She lives in the original farm house, and, the tobacco and hay crops are
leased, Tennie continues to keep the house and the yard and remains involved and
interested in the farm’s operations.
Her daughter, Patsy Williams Halliburton, compiled the application for the
Williams Farm, an important part of the history of the Stoney Point community
for over 100 years.