Unicoi County

            Unicoi County was established in 1875 and its county seat is Erwin. During the county’s history, the construction of railroads, especially the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio railroad played an important role in developing the economy of the county by providing transportation and shipping services as well as employment for the residents. In addition to the railroad, the county was also home to Southern Potteries, a company that specializes in making hand-painted dinnerware called Blue Ridge China from 1916 to the 1940s. The county also has a 100 year old U.S. Fish Hatchery. Unicoi County has three Century Farms and the oldest is the Bell Farm that dates to 1854. For more information regarding Unicoi County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture website.

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

Allen Hill Farm

Bell 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

Allen Hill Farm

Damon C. and Ruby Allen

            Prior to the establishment of Unicoi County, Robert Abernathy Allen established the Allen Hill Farm in 1861. On 107 acres, the farm produced corn, wheat, oats, hogs, cows and chickens. Robert and his wife Sarah McInturff Allen had eight children and their son Robert A. Allen became the next owner of the farm.

            During Robert’s ownership in the early 1900s, the Carolina, Clinchfield and Ohio Railroad built a line that ran from Elkhorn, Kentucky through east Tennessee and on into Spartanburg, South Carolina. With the development of the railroad, Unicoi County acquired better transportation services and better access to other areas.

Robert and his wife Emma Bradshaw Allen had two children and their son John Wesley Allen became the third generation to own the farm in 1940. Under his ownership, the farm produced corn, soybeans, garden vegetables and livestock. In addition to managing the farm, John Wesley worked at the railroad mechanical shop. During World War II, John’s three sons participated in the armed services. As a result of not having as much labor, fewer crops were raised on the farm.

In 1964, Damon C. Allen, the great-grandson of the founder acquired the farm and converted the farm to raising and marketing beef cattle. Damon and his wife Ruby Allen continue to manage the farm today.

Bell Farm

Eugene C. Bell

            Despite the terror of the Civil War and a disastrous flood at the turn of the century, the Bell Farm has become one of the leading progressive farms in Unicoi County. The Bell Farm was established by Dr. David H. and Alice Waters Bell in 1854. It initially consisted of 2,000 acres located five miles east of Unicoi in the Limestone Cove community. The Bells raised wheat and all types of livestock on their plantation. During the Civil War, the farm was the site of the Limestone Cove Massacre that resulted in the death of ten local residents, including the founder’s brother Jimmy Bell.

            The farm’s second generation owner was Henry Edward Bell, the husband of Hattie Miller. Parents of four children, the Bells survived a terrible flood in May 1901 that ruined many other farms in the region. Both before and after the flood, their crops included corn, wheat and oats. The family also owned cattle and horses on their 120 acres of land.

            The founders’ grandson, James W. Bell, was the farm’s third generation owner. Bell and his wife Celia Garland owned about 20 acres but were able to raise enough corn, wheat, oats, buckwheat, tobacco and livestock to feed eight children. In 1964, their son Eugene Bell acquired the farm. The Bells currently raise tobacco, corn, potatoes, beef cattle, hay, alfalfa and vegetables. In 1983, Eugene received an award as “Soil Conservation Farmer of the Year.”

Tilson Farm

Leon and Janice Rhodes

Located three miles north of Flag Pond along I-26, the Tilson Farm dates to 1856 when James Tilson and his wife Elizabeth Beals Tilson  began farming 132 acres.  They lived in a log cabin, 18 x 20 feet with an upper loft and raised corn, wheat, tobacco, cattle, and corn.   Their marriage was a brief one, for just a few years later, James joined the Confederate Army. The family has preserved several letters James wrote to Elizabeth before he was killed during the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.  Details of his wounds, death, and burial are recounted in a letter, sent by the solider who tended him, is also kept by the family.  Elizabeth was left to manage the farm and raise her  three small children.

In the early 1900s, the “Old Ridge Road” connected the farm with the community of Kittyton, and its post office, about 2 ½ miles away.  That community is known as Clear Branch today.   In 1925, Catherine Tilson Mashburn, the daughter of James and Elizabeth acquired the farm. Along with her husband William Mashburn, the farm produced tobacco, corn, wheat as well as producing cattle and swine. The couple had six children and their daughter, Linda Aletha, married to Henry Sherman Guinn,  became the third generation to own the land.

Under the Guinn ownership, the farm raised tobacco, corn, wheat, apples, cattle, swine, horses, timber and poultry. In addition to farming, Henry was also a skilled carpenter. The family recalls that  he excelled in making “fine furniture.”  He converted the log cabin of the founders into a woodworking shop and constructed a new frame house in 1930.  Henry and Linda had two sons, Robert and Thomas Guinn.   Robert and Thomas served in  World War II.  Robert fought with the Army in Europe while Thomas served with the Army Air Force. On returning home, Thomas built a frame house for his family on the farm in 1946. 

            In 1982, Robert and Thomas Guinn acquired the farm. On 67 acres, they raised tobacco, apples, timber and poultry. Thomas and his wife, Mary Lee Lloyd Guinn, had four children and their daughter, Janice Gail Guinn Rhodes acquired the land in 1991.  During the early 1990s, I-26 was planned through Unicoi County and twenty acres of the farm land was taken for the interstate. Janice and her husband, Leon Rhodes, built a new brick home on the land in 1998. Today, the farm produces timber, blueberries and apples and raises goats and cattle. A  spring house, the 1930 frame house, a stock barn, a 1950 tobacco barn and the log cabin built by the founders remain a part of everyday life on this farm that is 150 years old.  Janice and two of her three brothers were born in the pre-Civil War log cabin which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo (top): Log Cabins on the Tilson Farm.

Photo (bottom right): This tobacco barn on the Tilson Farm dates to the 1950s.