Roane County

Roane County was established in 1801 and named in honor of the second  governor of Tennessee, Archibald Roane. The town of Kingston serves as the county seat. The county’s location at the juncture of the Tennessee, Clinch, and Emory rivers made the area vitally important for both white settlers and Native Americans in the early years of Tennessee’s history. Another notable town in the county is Harriman. During the 1890s, Harriman was established by industrialists who were strict prohibitionists. These prohibitionists implemented their beliefs by making every contract or deed sold stipulate a provision forbidding the use, making, storage or selling of intoxicating beverages. Roane County has four Century Farms and the oldest is the Cooley Farm that was founded in 1825. For more information regarding Roane County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture website.

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

Cooley Farm

Edgemon Brothers Farm

Martin Farm

Valley View Farm


The following map is for a general geographical understanding. It does not provide the specific locations of the farms because of privacy issues.


Map Courtesy of Carole Swann, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Cooley Farm

Marlin R. Curnutt

Established in 1801, Roane County currently has four certified Century Farms, all founded before the Civil War. Of these properties, the earliest is the Cooley Farm, which dates from 1825.

 Regarding the farm’s history, Elijah Cooley, who is listed in the book Pioneers of Roane County, along with wife Jermima and their son, Benjamin, farmed 160 acres, where they raised tobacco, vegetables, hay, corn and cattle. 

            In 1855, Benjamin acquired the land. He married Malinda and they had eight children. Under this generation, the farm produced tobacco, corn, hay and cattle. During the Civil War, Benjamin “B. F.” was a scout, or as was described in a letter the family still has from that period, a “bushwacker.”  

Elijah Cooley, named for his grandfather, was the third-generation owner, acquiring the farm in 1901. For next three generations and for the whole of the 20th century, the farm was owned by women, beginning with Elijah’s daughter, Alice C. Parker, in 1920. Her daughter, Bonnie Allison, became the owner in 1944, and her daughter, Justine (Mrs. George) Curnutt, was next to acquire the farm in 1973. Tobacco was grown for most of this time and cattle has remained a constant product of the Cooley Farm.

            Marlin Curnutt, son of Justine and George, acquired the property in 2007.  He is the seventh-generation owner of the family farm. Today, neighboring farmer Joe Kyle raises hay and cattle on what is the oldest Century Farm in Roane County.

Edgemon Brothers Farm

Walt Dickson

            Three miles west of Erie, the Edgemon Brothers Farm dates to 1829. Its founder is Robert Campbell, who began farming with 480 acres. Robert was married three times and fathered thirteen children. On a farm which produced corn, cattle, sheep, swine and horses, the children had many daily chores to attend to.

            The founder left the farm to his son Robert Swisher Campbell in 1858. Except for replacing horse breeding with mule breeding, Robert made few changes in the farm’s operations. He wed Agnes Turner and fathered five children. His daughters, Mary Campbell Edgemon and Clendenon Campbell Wilson, received unequal shares of the family land in 1934. On their tract, the Edgemons raised corn, cattle and the important cash crop of tobacco.

            In 1963, the farm passed into the hands of the current owners, the founder’s great grandsons. They tilled well over 4,000 acres of land, with the sale of cattle and tobacco providing most of the family’s cash income. At that time, the property contained the Compromise school house, built prior to 1875. Today, the property is owned by Walt Dickson.

Martin Farm

David Martin

            Founded in 1830 by James Jolly, the Martin Farm lies thirteen miles south of Kingston. Little is known about James Jolly, other than he was a founder of the Shiloh Baptist Church and owned 160 acres of land. In 1851, Rebecca Jolly Deatherage received the farm from her father. She and her husband Hardin operated the property during the hardships of the Civil War and Reconstruction period. In 1875, they left the property to their daughter Sarah, the wife of Sam Houston Williams.

            The Williams transferred title to the 160 acres of family land to Rebecca Williams McMurray, the great granddaughter of the founders, in 1917. Rebecca, married to Charles McMurray, raised three children. Alice Martin, one of Charles and Rebecca’s children, has owned and managed the farm for the last 26 years. Her son David Charles Martin works the land, producing hay and beef cattle.

Valley View Farm

Tom J. Martin

            The agricultural evolution of Valley View Farm parallels that of many East Tennessee farms. In the nineteenth century, farmers operated self-sustaining farms with surpluses going to market. However, in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, farmers more and more turned to specialization, producing commodities such as tobacco, dairy products and beef cattle.

            With 374 acres located between Harriman and Rockwood in Roane County, Elisha Martin, Jr. and his spouse Margaret founded the Valley View Farm in 1848. The Martins, parents of four children, were traditional East Tennessee farmers, raising foodstuffs and livestock. They operated the farm for over 50 years until their son John took over the farm in 1906. Unlike many farmers of their generation, John and his wife Susan Delozier made few changes in the farm’s operation, adding only swine to their livestock production. Even the third generation owner of the land, William S. Martin, the founders’ grandson who inherited the farm in 1922, changed nothing in its operation. But when George D. Martin acquired the land in 1943, he followed a dominant trend of mid-twentieth century agriculture and began to produce dairy commodities.

            The founders’ great grandson George married Nelle Rice and fathered two children. Tom, one of George and Nelle’s children, received title to 145 acres in 1968. Tom Martin and his family have since expanded the farm to 340 acres of land, but limit their operations to hay and cattle production.

Photo (top): A view of the landscape of the Valley View Farm.

Photo (bottom): Cattle are still be raised on the Valley View Farm today.