Stow-Ha-Wa Farm
Nancy Hastings Stowers
Hugh Stowers
John Wallis founded the Stow-Ha-Wa Farm in 1842. Located four miles southeast of Shelbyville, Wallis’ holdings originally included 150 acres, where he cultivated corn, wheat, swine and cattle. A native of Holland, Wallis also owned the turnpike that connected Shelbyville and Lynchburg.
In 1869, William Gordon Wallis, one of John and Mary Wallis’ four children, acquired 125 acres of his parents’ land. Later adding 75 acres to Stow-Ha-Wa, William Gordon cultivated corn, wheat and clover, while raising swine and cattle.
William Gordon and Nancy Arnold Wallis had only one child, Mary Ann Wallis Hastings. In 1971, Mary’s daughter Nancy Hastings Stowers and her husband Hugh Stowers acquired the farm.