For a brief historical sketch of each farm, click on the farm name.
Justine Reed
Located on Highway 200,
the Crouch Farm was founded in 1904 by Thomas E. Crouch. The 75 acres produced
corn and supported cattle and swine. The couple had four children. Their
daughter, Mae, and her husband E.B. Moody were the next owner s of the
land. The farm had two subsequent owners
after Mae and now the current owner is the founder’s granddaughter, Justine A.
Reed. The 75 acre farm now
supports cattle. Ms. Reed’s daughter and son-in-law, Mike and Connie Storie
work the land today. The Storie’s are
also proud owners of a Century Farm in
Richard W. Pierce
Lois Pierce
Junior Pierce
Located west of Byrdstown is the P & Z Farm that was founded
around 1900 by Jim Henry Pierce. Married to Lorina Pierce, they had five
children. Their names were G. Rowmanus, Alvin, Sophia Brooks, Dade Spurlin and
Sis Anderson. In addition to raising row crops on the 68 acres, the family
reports that there was a lead mine on the farm. In 1907, the founder’s son, G.
Rowmanus Pierce acquired the property. He and his wife Belle Dennis Pierce, had
two children, though both died in infancy.
The family recalls that rare daffodils and rare May Day peonies were
cultivated. During these early decades,
the land for
In 1929, the farm was sold to his first cousins, Posie, Walter and
Roscoe. The cousins paid for the farm over the Depression years raising and
selling row crops, and working at the blacksmith shop and at sawmills. The
cousins farmed the land for several years and then they divided the land
between the three of them. Over the twenty years, the Pierce family entertained
the local community with their well known musical talents and dances were held
at the old farm house.
The fourth owners of the farm were Woodrow Pierce and Gracie Irene
Zachary Pierce who acquired the farm from Roscoe Pierce in 1952. Gracie paid
for the farm with $500 that she had saved up and finished paying for the
property the next year with a tobacco crop. While helping manage the farm,
Woodrow also worked as a mechanic and at a sawmill. In addition, he raised and
traded swine and grew tobacco.
Today, the farm is owned by Richard W. and Lois D. Pierce.
Currently, the farm produces cattle, hay, and poultry. A house, built from materials recycled from
homes torn down to make way for
Gregory and Deborah Tompkins
Audrey Riley-Tompkins
Joseph David Riley acquired 45 acres outside of Byrdstown around 1898 but
the farm’s earliest legal documentation is for taxes paid for 1901.
Joseph traded a black saddle mare with its saddle and bridle for the
farm. When he and Savannah Ellen Garrett married in 1898, Ellen brought her
treadle sewing machine by mule from her home in northeast Pickett County to her
new log home built by their families. From their property, where they raised
three sons – Dewey Webster, James Elijah, and Forrest McKinley -- they witnessed
World War I, survived the Great Depression, and were able to maintain their land
despite the building of Tennessee Valley Authority’s Dale Hollow Lake in 1942.
The Riley’s farm provided for the needs of their family. As subsistence
farmers, they engaged in a wide range of agricultural activities.
Ellen is remembered as a
strong woman who worked alongside Joseph.
From the sheep, Ellen harvested the wool, carded it, and spun it into
wool thread. To supplement the farm’s cash income, she produced items for sale
including feather mattresses and pillows, milk, butter, cream, and wine.
Joseph and Ellen lived much as their parents had and did not make use of
many of the modern conveniences that the twentieth century provided. Until the
Rileys died in the mid-1960s, they continued to cook on a wood burning stove,
used buckets to carry water from a spring a thousand feet from the house, and
used electricity sparingly – they only had two light bulbs and a basic
refrigerator.
In 1934, the Rileys deeded a portion of their land to Dewey Webster
“Webb” Riley, their oldest son. Their second son, James Elijah, was deeded five
acres on which he built his homestead; this land remains in the family and is
owned by Elbert Riley and his wife. In 1963, Webb and his wife Maggie Jane
Melton were deeded the remaining acreage for a total of forty acres.
Webb and Maggie continued to practice subsistence farming and
supplemented their income with tobacco, beef cattle, dairy cows, a large poultry
flock, and molasses and honey. All of these were sold to or traded with
neighbors at local and regional markets. Their children were Audrey Mae, Curtis
Frank, and Marvin Cordell. In their retirement, Webb and Maggie sold fifteen
acres and transferred ownership to Audrey.
Audrey Mae and her husband, Daniel Tompkins, had Gregory, Douglas, and
Regina. Webb Riley continued to use the property and leased the land for
tobacco, alfalfa, and grazing purposes. In time, Audrey continued to lease the
land like her father and sold approximately eight acres. Maggie, Audrey’s
mother, passed away in 2005.
In 2009, the founder’s great grandson, Gregory and his wife, Deborah
Sexton-Tompkins, purchased thirteen acres from Audrey. Webb and Maggie’s 1930s
house still stands as well as the main stock barn, smokehouse, bee house,
chicken house, and a small tobacco barn. Each of these are in the process of
renovation or were recently restored by Gregory and Deborah. The land produces
hay, firewood, black walnuts, and cedar fence posts in addition to several
thousand board feet of timber that await harvest.
John Sells
By 1886, Joann Sells had defied the odds and had
established a working farm of 65 acres located six miles northeast of
John Sells, the grandson of Joann Sells, inherited 60 acres in 1977. He now raises pasture, hay, cattle and chickens and continues to practice soil conservation.
Peggy Jane Green
Laura Gail Lewis
Helen Kay Savage
Porter Franklin Smith purchased 120 acres
southeast of Byrdstown in 1903 and added another 250 acres in 1910.
Smith was born in Overton County in 1858 he married Sibbie Hill in 1886.
The couple had ten children. Smith
was a logger by trade and died in 1911 when struck by lightning. Sibbie, who had
five children under 14, with the youngest, Ada, only three when her husband
died, remained a widow for 25 years.
The couple’s son, Eather Lansden Smith,
acquired 132 acres of the property between 1934 and 1959. He and his wife,
Omogene McDonald, had seven children--Ann Smith Garrett, Kay Smith Savage, Jane
Smith Green, Laura Smith Lewis, Linda Smith Koger, Billy Smith, and Bobby Smith.
The family grew tobacco, corn, and hay while raising cattle, hogs, and chickens.
In 2002, the five Smith daughters acquired the
family farm. Today, Brian and Tabith Lee (Jane Smith Green’s granddaughter) rent
and live on the farm with their two children while Laura Smith Lewis is actively
engaged in the management of the farm which produces cattle and hay.
Paul Taylor
The founders of the Triple T Farm were Reuben and Nannie
Tipton Taylor. In 1832, they purchased 200 acres of land fourteen miles north
of
Frances and Thursey left the family land to their son Tom
Sherman Taylor.
In 1978, Paul E. and Mary Ramsey Taylor obtained the family farm. They “have acquired and put back together (all) of the original land” and possess a total of 420 acres. Beef cattle, hay and tobacco are the farm’s chief commodities.
Jean Beaty
Helen Beaty
Samantha Beaty
 |
 |
 |
William Francis Williams acquired 468 acres five miles east of Byrdstown,
on August 3, 1868. Here, he and his wife Martha Campbell Williams raised their
six children and improved the land. To maintain their farm, the Williams built a
granary, corn crib, and barn. They raised cattle, mules, hogs, and chickens and
grew corn, wheat, and oats.
In 1916, their daughter Betty and her husband Oplis Whittenburg purchased
one hundred acres of the original farm for $400. They raised cattle, pigs, and
chickens while growing hay and corn. The Whittenburgs built two houses.
They also set aside acreage for Williams
Chapel Church and Cemetery. Their daughter, Verda E. Whittenburg, inherited the
farm at their passing in the 1970s.
When Verda passed away in 1996, her cousin Jean Beaty inherited the
family farm. Jean is the granddaughter of the founding couple, William and
Martha Williams. Many of the original farm buildings and both houses remain on
the farm. Jean has restored the two houses; one had been used to store hay and
hang tobacco. Today, Jean and her son Larry Beaty live on the 83 acres that
remain in the family. They grow hay and raise cattle with the help of their
cousin, Larry Stone.
Photo (left):
Photo (center): C
Photo (right): Barn.
Willie Williams
Located ten miles east of Byrdstown, the Williams Farm
dates to William F. Williams’ acquisition of 300 acres prior to 1870. Married
twice and the father of eleven children, Williams was a general farmer who was
interested in the welfare of the community. He donated land for the
construction of the
His son Osco B. Williams was the farm’s second generation
owner. Osco and his wife Pearl Storie managed 287 acres and their labor yielded
cattle, swine, corn, hay and tobacco. In 1975, the farm passed into the hands
of Osco and