Brice Moffatt Farm

Cedar Hill Farms

Cliftwood Farm

Corona Farm

Driver Farm

Fleming Farm

Hawthorne Place Farm

J & J Farms

Lone Oak Farm

McCullough Farm

McDow Farm

McLennon Place

Moffatt Farm

Oak Hill 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

Brice Moffatt Farm

Martha A. Moffatt

Robert Wilson Moffatt

George Calvin Moffatt

            The Brice Moffatt Farm was established in 1881 by John Calvin Moffatt. Owned today by Martha Moffatt, the Moffatt family lives in a 1912 house and grows corn, beans, wheat and livestock. Mrs. Moffatt taught school for 43 years and is a member of the Moffatt Clan Society. Her husband, Robert, who managed the farm during World War II, is a member of the Farm Bureau and their local co-op. Their nephew, Leslie B. Moffatt, manages this farm, as well as the Fleming Century Farm.

Cedar Hills Farm

James B. Anthony, Jr.

            Three miles east of Brighton is the Cedar Hills Farm. Benjamin and Sarah Brown Adams acquired 240 acres and established the property in 1852. Adams had owned a plantation and several slaves in Sumner County, but an older slave woman allegedly poisoned the slaves and all but one black died. At that time, Adams decided to move and try farming in a new section of the state. The parents of six children, the founders cultivated corn, cotton and wheat at their new farm. Their daughter Mattie Adams Kyle “built a school house on this farm and taught a private school (for) several years following the Civil War.” Another daughter, Mary Adams Anthony, the wife of Thomas C. Anthony, inherited 200 acres in 1874. Besides the names of the Anthony’s four children, nothing is known about this period in the farm’s history.

            Between 1926 and 1940, James Benjamin Anthony, Jr., purchased and inherited over 200 acres of his great grandparents’ farm. Today his son James B. Anthony, III, farms an additional 1,200 acres, raising soybeans, strawberries, cotton, pecans, corn, wheat and livestock. One of the farm’s nineteenth century buildings is presently used for storage.

Cliftwood Farm

Frances Clifton

            In 1833, Michael Ray and William B. Robinson purchased 572 acres and founded the Cliftwood Farm three miles west of Gainesville. They were among the founders of the Ebenezer Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Cotton, corn, and cattle were their early agricultural commodities.

            William B. Robinson married Elizabeth Boykin and they had seven children. In 1872, Elizabeth willed 140 acres to her daughter Mary Robinson Clifton, the wife of Ridley Clifton. The Cliftons improved the farm by introducing swine and poultry to its operations. They also managed the community’s first cotton gin. Ernest Ridley Clifton, the founders’ grandson, and his wife Susie Cothran took control of the farm in the early twentieth century.

                 In 1960, Bailey L. Clifton acquired 140 acres of the family farm. A veteran of World War II, Bailey was the great grandson of the founders. He  managed 40 acres as woodlands and future pasture. Bailey and his wife Francis were married for 63 years. When Bailey  died in 2010, he was buried in Robinson Cemetery, which was established by the farm’s founder, William B. Robinson, when his daughter died in 1804.   Bordered on three side by Cliftwood Farm, this cemetery contains graves of the generations of owners of the farm as well as both black and whites of the community. Frances Clifton owns and continues to live at Cliftwood.

Corona Farm

Samuel Stockley Moore

Eugene Horace Moore, Jr.

Elizabeth Moore Tipton

            The only Century Farm in Tennessee to be located on an island in the Mississippi River is the Corona Farm. Lying on the Centennial Island of the Mississippi River, the Corona Farm dates to 1836. John and Elizabeth Bradley Trigg purchased 2,223.5 acres between 1836 and 1837 and established this major plantation along the Mississippi River. The property eventually grew to 1,300 acres, producing commodities such as cotton and livestock. In 1876, according to the family, the Mississippi River changed its course and “in two days time ate away 1,000 acres of the Trigg place. The remainder of the land was severed from the mainland of Tennessee and was positioned then, as now, on the west side of the river.”

            Of the founders’ six children, Lucy Trigg Stockley acquired 500 acres of the plantation in 1862. During the Civil War, Lucy and her children lived at the farm and abandoned their Memphis home to the Federal occupation troops. Her husband Charles A. Stockley served in the Confederate army. Her son Henry Walker Stockley purchased 1,500 acres of the original plantation in 1897 and four years later, the State of Tennessee granted Henry an additional 942 acres of land. In 1935, Elizabeth T. Stockley Moore and her husband Horace E. Moore purchased the property from the heirs of Henry W. Stockley.

            Horace Moore died in 1956 and his wife Elizabeth “deeded the place to her three children, Horace E., Sam S. and Elizabeth.” The two brothers and their sister have managed the farm for the last 30 years. Today, the property contains 3,000 acres, worked by Sam and Horace Moore and John and Charles Tipton. The farm yields crops of corn, soybeans, peanuts and wheat.

Driver Farm

William Aubrey Driver

Mary Lake Driver

            The year 1843 is the founding date for the Driver farm, which once was an important antebellum plantation in Tipton County. Established by Carr and Julie Baker Crenshaw, the farm originally contained 199 acres located five miles west of Mason. While growing tobacco for his own use, Crenshaw cultivated cotton, corn and hay as important commodities. Evidence suggests that the Crenshaws were extremely successful farmers, for when Carr died in 1860, his heirs divided 1, 636 acres of land.

            In 1868, M. Indiana Crenshaw and Allen Debow Lake received 280 acres of the original farm. Five years later, Indiana deeded five and a half acres of her father’s land to the adjacent Ebenezer Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Her husband Allen managed the farm, growing cotton and corn and raising vegetables and milk products “for home consumption.”

            Allen Debow Lake, Jr., obtained 190 acres in 1893. He married Bessie Holloway and they had three daughters. The family “continued to be very active in the work of Ebenezer Church and are credited by many people in Gainsville with holding the church together at a time when it would have otherwise died.” Cotton, corn, cattle, swine and mules were the family’s chief agricultural commodities.

            In 1935, Mazie Lake and Aubrey E. Driver acquired 97.4 acres of the property. The Drivers raised cotton, soybeans, cattle and swine for market and supplied most of their own foodstuffs. The Drivers were the parents of two children, William and Mary, who now own the farm. William works the land and produces cotton, soybeans, corn, hay, swine and beef cattle. His sister Mary lives in California.

Fleming Farm

George C. Moffatt

Robert W. Moffatt

            George Thomas Fleming and wife Margaret Faulkner Fleming established the Fleming Farm, owned by George C. Moffatt of Atoka, in 1884. The couple built a two-story frame house that same year, and that home is now the residence of Leslie B. Moffatt, son of George, and his wife Zelma, who manages the farm. The Moffatts grow corn, wheat and soybeans on 142 acres of the family farm that is located in the Idaville community.

Hawthorne Place Farm

Robert Dixon

            William A. and Martha Bland Taylor established Hawthorne Place, which is two miles northeast of Mason, in 1822. An early nineteenth century plantation of over 4,000 acres, Hawthorne’s Place yielded large quantities of cotton and corn for the market. The Memphis and Ohio Railroad passed through the land and once, when a train wrecked near the farmhouse, Martha Taylor took care of the injured. As a token of its gratitude, the railroad granted her a lifetime pass and named the place Point no Point.

            In 1855, Sally Taylor Williamson acquired about 2,000 acres of the plantation. She was the wife of William L. Williamson, who raised cotton and corn at the farm. The farm next passed to their only surviving son, William Taylor Williamson.

            Francis Brodnax Williamson and his spouse Mildred Wise Williamson obtained title to 162 acres of the original plantation in 1939. Francis was the great grandson of the founders. In 1976, he worked the farm with Clarence Hightower, a sharecropper. They produced cotton, corn, berries and livestock.

            Between 1977 and 1983, the farm formally passed to the great great grandchildren of the founders. Robert Dixon, Jr., works Fannie Dixon’s portion of the farm, producing cotton and horses. The other tracts of the farm, each containing 50 acres, also have cotton fields and pasture for horses.

J & J Farms

Mary Witherington Griffin

            The Gainesville community is home to J & J Farms, second Century Farm that evolved from the original estate of William B. and Elizabeth Boykin Robinson. The second generation owner was Margaret Robinson McClanahan, who left the farm to John D. McClanahan, Jr. John farmed 100 acres of the original property plus an additional 112 acre tract. A “longtime member of the Tipton County Court,” McClanahan served in the state legislature in 1916. He married Mary Forgey and they had one child, Annine B. McClanahan, who inherited the farm upon her father’s death in 1935.

            Mary Drew Witherington Griffin, the great great granddaughter of the founders, acquired the family landholdings between 1953 and 1959. As of 1976, Sammy Smith and Douglas Bryan sharecropped her 697 acres growing cotton and soybeans. Today, Mrs. Griffin owns over 1,000 acres that produce cotton, soybeans, corn and wheat. She lives in a farmhouse that dates to 1852.

Lone Oak Farm

Dan McLennan, Jr.

            In 1835, Cornelius and Flora Murchison McLennan founded the Lone Oak Farm five miles east of Brighton. Cornelius, a native of Scotland, grew corn and wheat and raised mules, horses, cattle and swine on 390 acres of land. Of the founders’ eleven children, Daniel McLennan became owner of 184 acres in 1893. A veteran of the Confederate army, Daniel was wounded twice at the Battle of Shiloh. His agricultural commodities included corn, wheat and cotton.

            Daniel wed Emma Adkins and they were the parents of seven children. Their son Daniel McLennan, Jr., is Lone Oak’s current owner. The grandson of the founders, he owned 112.5 acres of the original farm plus an additional 181 acres in 1976. Specializing in breeding beef cattle, Daniel also planted fields of corn, cotton, soybeans and sweet potatoes. As of 1976, a nineteenth century log smokehouse remained on the property and was used for storage.

McCullough Farm

Billie Shelton McCullough, Jr.

            The 6^th District of Tipton County is the location of the McCullough Century Farm, established by William and Hannah S. McCullough in 1866, immediately following the end of the Civil War. The founders owned 175 acres which they and their three children planted each year in wheat, cotton and corn. James Robert McCullough was the farm’s second generation owner. Married to Josie Bowers, he was the father of two children. He expanded the farm’s operations to include the cultivation of peanuts.

            In 1972, Billie Shelton McCullough inherited the founders’ entire farm. Billie has added 725 acres and toady operates a profitable soybean and cotton farm. McCullough’s cousin Charles Walker works the 900 acres on which stands the nineteenth century log house of James Robert McCullough.

McDow Farm

John J. McDow

            In 1887, Mattie E. Cocke founded the McDow Farm 235 acres of land that belonged to her uncle William H. Ligon. According to the family, the farm had a main house, two tenant houses and barns for cattle, horses, and storage for hay, corn and machinery. Married to William H. Cocke, the couple had four children. During their ownership, the farm produced cotton, corn, hay, pasture, hardwood timber, dairy cattle, apples, peaches and vegetables. In 1929, 2.17 acres of the farm was dedicated to the road right-of-way for the Tabernacle-Charleston Road improvement project. The road was subgraded from a dirt to a gravel surface and widened to give improvement in the transportation system to the farm.

            After Mattie died, the farm was divided in four equal parts to her four children. Their names were Elbon H. Cocke, Ligon H. Cocke, Hattie Cocke Garner and Lucy Cocke McDow. Each farm was worked with the help of tenants and sharecroppers. In the late 1940s, the Texas Gas Transmission Corporation built a cross-country pumping station about one mile east of the farm. A spur gas line was installed to connect the city of Covington with the station’s main line. This spur gas line crossed the farm sections owned by Hattie, Ligon and Lucy.

            During the 1950s and early 1960s, the four children passed away and eventually the land was acquired by the grandson of the founder, John J. McDow. Over the years, John has made improvements to the farm by placing an emphasis on more conservation practices such as developing terraces, waterways and ground cover. Today, the land yields cotton, soybeans, fescue and hardwood timber.

McLennan Place

Durward McLennan

Jean-Leigh York McLennan

Ernest McLennan and his wife, Mary O’Kelly McLennan acquired 47 of the present 120 acres in 1902.   Three years later, from timber growing on the land, Ernest built a two-story home (still in use) where their three children, Durward, Mildred, and Stanford, all now deceased, were raised.  Durward became the second generation McLennan to farm the land in the Clopton Community near Brighton.  His children,Pamela Jean Patrick, Laura Janice McDonald, and Robin Kathleen Bumpus, return to their childhood home for family gatherings.  Currently, neighbor David McDaniel works the land, continuing to grow crops initiated by Ernest McLennan -- cotton, soybeans, corn, and pecans.           

Moffatt Farm

Richard Merritt

Mary Ann Merritt

            The Moffatt Farm was established in 1881 by John Calvin Moffatt. On the farm John produced corn, cotton, soybeans and cattle. Married twice, he fathered seven children. His son, James W. Moffatt was the next owner of the land. Along with his wife, Nannie W. Payne, they had three children. Their names were Mary E. Moffatt, Mamie E. Moffatt Gragg and James W. Moffatt.

            In 1974, the great granddaughter of the founder, Mary Ann Merritt and her husband Richard L. Merritt acquired the farm. Today, Mary Ann and her husband still manage the farm, however, the land is rented to David Templeton who has no relation to the family. Currently, the farm yields corn, cotton and soybeans.

Oak Hill Farm

Glenn Maclin

William Henry Maclin

Cara Hechinger

Oak Hill Farm was established in 1832 by Jack and Betty Smith Taylor. The Taylors located their dwelling “near a large spring which supplied water for the entire plantation until the early 1900s, when the first successful well was completed.” The farm’s first crops and products included corn, cotton, cattle, swine and horses.

            Of the founders’ three children, Lucy Taylor Maclin acquired about 1,000 acres of the family landholdings in 1847. Lucy and her husband Dr. James B. Maclin transformed the farm into one of the region’s largest antebellum plantations, one that totaled 3,500 acres. Corn, cotton, and livestock were the commodities that produced at Oak Hill during these years. In 1869, William Henry Maclin received 500 acres of the plantation. He wed Mary Minor and they raised three children.

In 1935, their son Lancelot Minor Maclin obtained 216 acres of the property. Lancelot continued to produce cotton, corn and livestock and run the family’s dairy business. In addition to farming, Lancelot was a businessman and owned a store and cotton gin in Keeling. During the Great Depression, lenders reposed the gin and the store and tried to take the home farm and house. As a result, he took out a loan with the Farmers Home Administration to pay off the creditors and save Oak Hill.

            In 1941, Lancelot M. Maclin, Jr., inherited 216 acres from Lancelot and Genevieve Livingston Maclin. Prior to coming back to the farm, Lancelot, Jr. worked as a factory foreman in Houston, Texas. Under his ownership, Lancelot established a grade A and ended up purchasing his two uncles’ share of the farm so that he and his sister became the sole owners.

 In 1976, Glenn Maclin came back to the farm to help his father with the dairy business. They continued milking cows until 1987. At that point, they decided to not compete with the larger dairy operations. Eventually, the Jersey cattle was dispersed at public auctions. According to the family, the auction that was held at the farm and run by the American Jersey Cattle Club, sent their cows all over the country. One cow was eventually listed in the top ten list of the Leading Living Lifetime Producers in the Jersey breed. The farm was then converted to beef cattle and Lancelot and Glenn ran a commercial cow-calf operation until the mid-1990’s, when Lancelot retired and Glenn concentrated on non-farm business activities. At present, the family rents the row crop ground out to a neighbor, the hay fields to another neighbor, and have a plot in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) with the government. The farm is now operated as a legal partnership known as Oak Hill Farms and is jointly owned by Glenn, his brother William Henry Maclin and his sister Cara Hechinger. 

                Photo (top): A Front View of the Oak Hill Farm house.

Photo: (bottom): This granary was built in 1955.