Hardin Farm

Harrison Bend Farm

James Blair Farm

James Farm

McQueen Farm

Paul Alexander Farm

River View Farm

Robert Thompson Farm

Sam Blair Farm

Shipley Farm

Springdale Farm

T & W Farm

West Farm

Alexander Farm

Earl Alexander

            During the 1930s and 1940s, the Tennessee Valley Authority’s farm demonstration program allowed agency officials to introduce new and effective farming techniques to local farmers. The demonstration farms, in addition, physically documented the wisdom of using fertilizer, contour plowing and other progressive agricultural practices in daily farm operations. The Alexander Farm, which is three miles north of Lenoir City, has served as a TVA model farm. The property dates to 1811, when James and Mary Alexander acquired 146 acres of land. The Alexanders and their six children were farmers of corn, flax, hay and cattle. They were also devout Presbyterians and James “was one of the founders and elders of Oak Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church.”

            Lawson Alexander and William L. Alexander were, respectively, the third and fourth generation owners of the family land. Little is known about the history of the farm under their ownership except for an incident that took place during the Civil War. According to a memoir written in 1886 by a Union soldier, troops took a wagon load of corn stalks and about 50 bushels of corn from the Alexander Farm. As payment, the soldiers offered the Alexanders a receipt for the property. But 20 years after the war, this soldier still remembered the elder Mrs. Alexander’s “looks of scorn and contempt” upon receiving the paper, “after reading which she tore it in pieces and stamped upon the fragments in the most approved and dramatic manner. She looked, too, as though she would have enjoyed treating us in the same way.”

            William L. Alexander made provisions in his will to leave the farm to his two sons, Joseph Parker and William Tate, and his daughters. Joseph, the founders’ great grandson, inherited 60 acres and later purchased an additional 120 acres from two of his sisters. Joseph produced beef cattle, corn, grain, hay and swine as his major agricultural commodities and his farm served as a Tennessee Valley Authority Test Demonstration Farm from 1938 to 1948.

            Joseph married Jannie Matlock and they raised three children to adulthood. In 1954, Earl and Ralph Alexander inherited 120 acres from their parents and today they work this land as one farm. The brothers specialize in beef cattle production and use the founders’ original log house as storage for farm supplies.

Bird Farm

Polly Blair Bird

Corrie Blair Bird

            Like his brother James, William Blair is an important figure in Loudon County history. In 1827, he established his farm six and a half miles east of Loudon on the south side of the Tennessee River and from these original landholdings, three separate Century Farms have evolved. The Bird Farm is the first property to develop from the original 1827 farm of William Blair, who owned 487 acres adjacent to his brother James’ farm. The parents of ten children, William and Sarah Simmons Blair raised different types of livestock for food, clothing and “mulepower.” The family also grew corn and wheat.

            In 1875, William Riley Blair inherited the farm from his parents John and Mary Blair. The founders’ grandson, William did more than till the land; he was a prominent banker and businessman in Loudon. In 1909, William willed the farm to his son Edgar Ebenezer Blair. Edgar concentrated his efforts on agriculture and became a “prominent farmer growing tobacco, wheat, cattle and sheep.”

            Edgar married Harriett Jones and they raised three daughters, with Polly Blair Bird inheriting 136 acres of the family land in 1969. Polly’s sister, Corrie Blair McPeake, operates the farm, which currently yields corn, hay, soybeans and pasture.

Eldridge Farm

Norah Woods

            The trials and tribulations of those who were unlucky enough to live along the state’s major rivers during the Civil War are aptly illustrated in the history of Eldridge Farm of Loudon County. In 1798, Jesse Eldridge established this Century Farm, one of the county’s oldest, on 200 acres located three miles north of Loudon along the Tennessee River at Hubbards Bend. Married twice and the father of four children, Jesse raised several types of livestock, cultivated cotton and flax for clothing, and planted corn and wheat for food. His farm was profitable and Jesse was able to purchase an additional 440 acres when the Hiwassee Purchase of the late 1810s made available the landholdings of the Cherokee Indians.

            The Civil War brought hard times to the farm. Federal troops occupied the area, fortifying several locations along the Tennessee River. “The family suffered frequently from Yankee raids” and in 1864 Jesse Eldridge died, leaving the farm to his son William Albert Eldridge. William was the husband of Bethilda Ann Taliaferro and the father of eight adult children. Together the family survived the last year of the Civil War and the hardships of the Reconstruction period to build a stable late-nineteenth century East Tennessee farm.

            In 1939, Albert J. Eldridge, the founder’s great grandson, inherited 134 acres of the original farm. Today, Norah Woods owns the land.

Greenway Farm

Estate of Henry Greenway

            William A. and Belle Alexander Jones established the Greenway Farm, which is six miles east of Lenoir City, in 1875. On their 137 acres, the Jones and their four children raised corn, wheat and cattle. In 1914, William and Belle’s daughter Cava Jones Greenway inherited the farm. Cava and her husband Henry Clay Greenway purchased 20 additional acres, expanding the farm to 195 acres of land. They tilled the soil for the next 52 years.

            In 1966, the farm passed into the hands of Henry Clay Greenway, Jr. and Joe Harding Greenway, the grandsons of the founders. As of 1976, their commodities included tobacco, hay, beans and cattle. Approximately one-fourth of their 370 acres were initially a part of the James and Nancy Hutton Greenway Farm, which dates to 1807. The brothers used the old Greenway property for cattle and hay production.

H. E. F. Blair Farm

Thomas G. Henry

            The H. E. F. Blair Farm is the fourth Century Farm in Loudon County to develop from the homestead that James Blair initially established in 1815. This farm passed from the hands of James to his son Wiley and then, in 1884, to his grandson H. E. F. Blair. The current owners report that during the Civil War, federal troops occupied the house and used it as an army hospital, forcing the family “to live in an out house.” Two earthen fortresses stand on the farm today as silent reminders of the federal occupation.

            H. E. F. Blair and his wife Martha Eldridge operated the farm from 1884 to 1922 when they willed the land to their daughter Kate Blair. For the next 53 years Kate managed the property, specializing in grain and cattle production and in 1975, she made her granddaughter Katherine Blair Waller Henry a co-owner of the property. As of 1976, the two women controlled over 650 acres of land and Kate still lived in a nine room, two-story frame house built by Wiley Blair in the mid-nineteenth century. Thomas G. Henry, Jr., the husband of Katherine Blair Henry, worked the land.

Hardin Farm

Elizabeth H. Holland

Beverly Hardin

             Oscar Jackson “OJ” Hardin and his wife, Fannie Russell Hardin purchased  508 acres east of Lenoir City in 1907.  The Hardin family also owned a large farm near this parcel, perhaps adjacent, but much of it now lies beneath Fort Loudon Lake.  The Hardins were known for their prize beef cattle and they also operated a sawmill on the farm.  Russell Hardin, their only child, married Golda (Walker).  They were the parents of Elizabeth and Oscar Jackson Hardin II.

            Upon OJ’s death in 1936, Fannie became the sole owner of the property.  Russell preceded his mother in death in 1940, and when she died in 1942, the farm passed to her daughter-in-law, Golda, Russell’s widow.   Cattle continued to be the primary livestock produced on the farm.  Golda, at her death in 2000,  left the farm to her children, Elizabeth and her husband C. W. Holland and Oscar Jackson Hardin II and his wife, Beverly.  Following her husband’s death in 2004, Beverly retained her portion of the land and lives in the original farm house built by the founding couple soon after their purchase of the farm in 1907.  The railroad, now the Norfolk Southern, was built through this property in 1855. 

            Van Shaver, married to Sarah, daughter of Elizabeth and C. W.  Holland, currently manages the daily operations of the farm which is mainly devoted to growing switchgrass. 

Photo: Hardin Farm Farmhouse, built c. 1907

Harrison Bend Farm

Benjamin Simpson

            The Civil War divided East from Middle and West Tennessee and it tore apart families with divided loyalties. Yet, the war sometimes contained moments when the soldiers stopped fighting and treated each other as human beings. One of those incidents took place on the Harrison Bend Farm of Loudon County. James and Eliza Lanston Harrison established the Harrison Bend Farm in 1849 when they acquired 145 acres located two miles northwest of Loudon. The Harrisons were typical East Tennessee farmers, producing corn, small grains and livestock. During the Civil War, both Union and Confederate soldiers guarded the farm from the “thievery of livestock and grain.” At one period in the fighting, in fact, a Confederate from Mississippi “nursed back to health” a soldier from Michigan. Ben Tolbert Harrison inherited the entire farm in 1873. Married to Martha Clarke, he was the father of seven children for whom he donated land for a community school. In 1952 Benjamin Beals Simpson, the founders’ great grandson, inherited the farm to which he added 44 acres. As of 1976, he and his son Benjamin lived at the old homeplace, called “The Bent,” and raised tobacco, vegetables and timber for market.

James Blair Farm

Joe James Blair

            The settlement and expansion of the Blair Century Farm is related to the early history of town development and transportation in Loudon County. Located on the north bank of the Tennessee River, one mile from Loudon, the original James and Jane Carmichael Blair farm would eventually spawn a total of five Century Farms. The founders, who acquired 560 acres of land in 1799, were among the first settlers in the region. Besides farming, James operated “Blair’s Ferry” across the Tennessee River which became a well-known river landmark. Hugh Blair inherited the entire farm in 1826. He continued the family tradition of mixed agriculture and, even though he married late in life and had no children, he built a large two-story home as a symbol of his farming success.

            Walter Blair, a nephew, inherited 280 acres in 1833. To cope with the new market demands of late nineteenth century agriculture, Walter specialized in growing sweet potatoes. He even built and operated his own canning factory. At his death, “he willed each of his four sons fifty acres of land” and the Blair family, surviving the rigors of the Great Depression, continued to farm the property.

            Joe James Blair acquired his first tract of the farm in 1941 and inherited another parcel 31 years later. The great great great great grandson of the founders, he owns 40 acres of the original farm, along with 200 additional acres of land. Today, Blair supervises the work of Mr. and Mrs. John Selridge who raise beef cattle, strawberries and tobacco.

James Farm

Sarah James Watkins

John Denton James

            The Prospect Community, six miles west of Loudon, is home to the James Century Farm. John F. James of Virginia purchased 539 acres of the former John B. Edwards in 1910.  On the property was a house, former slave quarters, and outbuildings dating from the years that the Edwards owned the property.  It would be 1911 before John and his wife, Mary, and their family, who were both in their 60s, moved from Virginia to Loudon County.  Not long after they took possession of the farm, the slave quarters were torn down though a tenant house remained standing and in use.   Some of the crops were corn, oats, and hay and the family also raised hogs, cattle and mules.  New barns were built and mules were taken to market in August, Georgia, in the year 1915-1920.

            After John’s death in 1926, two of the James children, Robert C. “Toby” and David D., purchased the farm. Two years later, the brothers divided the property and Robert assumed sole ownership of 293 acres. He and his wife Hattie Reeves had five children – Robert V., Owen D., John E., Annie S. Bates, and Mary J. Whisman. They lived in the James Farm homeplace, which was built by John B. Edwards in 1826. Needing more living space, they added a rear wing and new porch in 1935. Like the previous generation, they grew corn, wheat, oats, and hay while raising cattle and hogs. The “hog killing” was a large operation on the James Farm; family photographs from the 1950s and 1960s show family members processing the pork. When James passed away in 1967, Hattie continued to maintain the farm until her death in 1972.

            Hattie’s survivors inherited the farm; they included the James children and the sons of Mary Whisman, Robert V. and James W. Whisman. In 1975, the farm was conveyed to John E. James and his wife Jamie Haines James.   Jamie was a champion dressmaker and very active in Home Demonstration and 4-H Clubs of Loudon County. They operated the farm, had two children, Sarah James Watkins and John Denton James, who were active in 4-H.  John E. passed away in 2002 and Jamie in 2012.

            The current owners are the great grandchildren of the founder. Siblings, Sarah James (and husband John D. Watkins) and John Denton James (and wife Carolyn S.) live on the 293 acre farm growing oats, soybeans, wheat, and hay. They also raise cattle. In addition to the farm house , several buildings date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including a smokehouse, corn crib, tenant house, and a garage, and sites include the foundation of the distillery operated by the Edwards family.  The history and heritage of the James Farm, before and since their ancestors came from Virginia to settle in Loudon County, is well documented by the family.

McQueen Farm

Mrs. Hugh McQueen

            The McQueen Farm, which lies along the Tennessee River west of Loudon, dates to 1852 when Thomas Jefferson and Eliza Kerr Mason acquired 292 acres of land. The Masons, father and mother to seven children, operated a typical East Tennessee farm of the late antebellum era. Corn, wheat, walnuts, chickens and cattle provided most of the family’s food. Sheep provided wool for clothing and horses produced the necessary “horsepower” for farm machinery.

            In 1892, Mrs. Edmund P. McQueen inherited 305 acres of the family land. Despite the dawning of a new century, the farm’s agricultural products changed little. Other than the cultivation of tobacco, there was little else one could do with this Loudon County land except practice mixed agriculture.

            At the height of the Great Depression, in 1933, 175 acres of the property passed into the hands of Norman H. and Lucille Lanston McQueen. Norman was the founders’ grandson and as time passed and the demands of twentieth century agriculture changed, he shifted the focus of the farm’s operation from general to specialized farming. As of 1976, his wife Lucille and the families of his sons, Hugh and Edmund, worked a total of 265 acres. Hugh lived his entire life on this farm and was married for 48 years to Catherine Windle McQueen. The farm's products included cattle and hay. In their daily activities, the McQueens used five structures dating to the mid-nineteenth century: the homeplace, smoke house, barn, granary and blacksmith shop. In 2004, Hugh married Ruth Henderson of Loudon County. Her family farm is also in Loudon County and she is retired from the U. T. Extension Service. Hugh passed away in 2010 and Ruth continues to manage both farms.

Paul Alexander Farm

Alice Ann Alexander Grubb

River View Farm

Jane Blair Roberson

            River View Farm is the third Century Farm in Loudon County to originate with the farm of William Blair which dates to 1827.  In 1969, Jane Blair Roberson, the founder’s great great granddaughter, inherited 244 acres of the family land. The following year Jane and her husband Sam H. Roberson remodeled the old home, built in 1870, and began managing the farm’s daily operations. Their son, Mike Blair Roberson and his wife, Adrienne, live in the homeplace, which they extensively remodeled in 2001, and operate the farm. Jane Blair Roberson, at age 98, has owned the farm for over 40 years. 

Robert Thompson Farm

Glenda L. Dotson

It was 100 years ago in May of 1909 that Robert Lee Thompson, a descendent of one of the earliest settlers in Loudon County and among the First Families of Tennessee, founded a 78-acre farm about 13 miles south of Maryville.

Married to Dora Poole Thompson, the couple had five children. Their names were Earnest Clyde, Clifford Lee, Warren Webb, Robert H. and Ruby Augusta. During their ownership, the farm produced tobacco, corn, wheat and cattle.

            In 1956, Robert H. Thompson became the owner of the property. He raised a wide variety of crops and livestock, including tobacco, wheat, corn, watermelon, vegetables and cattle. In addition, Robert built a tool shed, a tobacco barn and remodeled the old house.

            In 1967, Glenda L. Dotson, the granddaughter of the founder, and her husband, Joe H. Dotson, bought 52 acres from Robert H. Thompson, who never married. In 1993, Glenda purchased the rest of the property, and today, Joe and their son, Robert L. Dotson, work the land.

According to the family’s report, Joe raised tobacco for a number of years and then Robert took over the crop. The farm also produces cattle, vegetables and hay. A farmhouse and barn that are more than 100 years old still stand on the property.

Sam Blair Farm

William C. Blair

Martha Francis Blair

Rachel Blair

            The Sam Blair Farm is the second oldest Century Farm in Loudon County to evolve from the original homestead of James Blair, the man who established Blair’s Ferry in the early 1800s.

            In 1826, Wiley Blair inherited family land from his parents. Wiley and his wife Mary Johnston, the parents of four children, were general farmers like their parents. They also kept the ferry in operation. In fact, these basic work patterns on the Blair farm did not change until the mid-twentieth century when Sam Wiley Blair, the founders’ great grandson, acquired the family property.

            Sam inherited 110 acres of the farm from his parents William and Mary Browder Blair in 1949. He specialized in cattle breeding and operated the Blair ferry until the highway department opened a new bridge across the Tennessee River. Sam’s wife Mayme Hotchkiss Blair acquired the land in 1950 and managed the property until her death in 1977. Today her children, William, Martha and Rachel jointly manage the farm, with her nephew Henry M. West working the land.

Shipley Farm

Ann Shipley Allen

            The 1900s were a time of great change in the farming landscape of East Tennessee. The changes that took place at the Shipley Farm mirror those historical developments. The Shipley Farm, founded by Alexander and Mary Mourfield Kollock in 1853, is five miles northwest of Lenoir City. With their initial 50 acres of land, the Kollocks soon built a prosperous farm of over 220 acres. In fact, Alexander Kollock was able to pay an unknown man $2000 to serve in his place in the Confederate Army. The Kollocks raised five children and were the first recorded members of the Oak Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church.

            Mary Nourfield Kollock inherited 80 acres from her brother in 1877 and upon her husband’s death in 1901 she took control of 300 acres of land. Six year later, she willed the entire property to her son Floyd A. Kollock, who, together with his wife Mary Eblen, managed the farm for the first half of the twentieth century. During the twentieth century, the farm’s modernization began in earnest. For example, TVA electrical power lines were installed and telephone lines were constructed. Floyd also sold 91 acres of the farm to the highway department for the construction of Interstate I-75. Floyd and his son Ben operated a dairy for several years and built and stocked two fish ponds.

            In 1975, 60 acres of the original farm passed into the hands of Helen W. and Ralph E. Shipley. Helen is the great granddaughter of the founders.  Her daughter, Ann Shipley Allen, who became the owner of the farm after her father’s death in 2012, lives on the farm as does her daughter, Sarah Rowe and her family.  They have a vegetable garden but hay is the primary commodity.

Springdale Farm

William McPeake

            Springdale Farm is the second Century Farm in Loudon County to evolve from the original homestead of William Blair. Sarah Blair Hall, the founder’s granddaughter, acquired this tract of 136 acres at an undetermined time after the Civil War. In 1895, she willed the property to her son William H. Hall, who sold the land a few months later to his uncle William Riley Blair.

            In 1962, Mrs. McPeake inherited the 136 acres from her father Edgar Ebenezer Blair. She remembers that her father was a model farmer who often “experimented and invested in early farm machinery.” Today, Corrie and her husband Dr. William T. McPeake manage the property and produce corn, soybeans, hay and Hereford beef cattle as their primary agricultural commodities. Springdale Farm also retains two mid-nineteenth century buildings-a log barn and a log cabin used by tenant farmers until 1970.

T & W Farm

Thomas and William Henry

            The T & W Farm, which is three miles northwest of Loudon, is the second Century Farm in Loudon County to develop from the original farm of Jesse Eldridge. William Hardin Eldridge, who inherited 189 acres from his parents William and Bethilda Eldridge, was the third generation owner of this property. Producing grain, hay, fruit and livestock, he managed the farm until the late 1930s. William never married, however, and William Albert Blair, the founder’s great grandson, acquired the 189 acres in 1938.

            William Blair tilled this land for the next 29 years and upon his death, his sister Kate Blair inherited the farm. In 1971, Blair deeded the property to the founder’s great great great great grandsons, Thomas G. Henry, III, and of William Waller Henry. They now own a total of 324 acres, most of which they lease to Steve Forrester of Madisonville.

West Farm

Martha Weaver Malloy

Alice Weaver Kapelle

            The West Farm is the third Century Farm in Loudon County that dates to the original property of James Blair and his descendents. In 1949, Henry West inherited 15.6 acres of his great grandparents’ land from which he has developed a small but prosperous farming operation. The family now grows garden vegetables and raises cattle. The farm is now owned by Martha Weaver Malloy and Alice Weaver Kapelle.