Fox Run Farm

Fox Run Farm

Elsie Isom Bell
Sharon Lynn Bell
Clay Shearon
Thane Shearon
Tammy Fann

Located seven miles from Wartrace is Fox Run Farm. Founded in 1890 by Russell Aubrey Lee, the 125 acres and the 1809 house on the property became home to Lee and wife Mary Rachel Walker Lee, whom he married in 1895, and daughters Ethel Lee Troxler and Sara Lee Isom. Corn, wheat, oats, hay, hogs, cattle, sheep, mules, and horses were grown on the farm.

In 1930, U.S. Highway 64 was built through the farm and Lee donated the section of his property for this primary transportation corridor. Elsie Isom Bell, the granddaughter of the founders and one of the current owners, acknowledges that with electricity that came to that part of the county in 1936, came great improvements. A refrigerator, an electric pump, and electric lights changed the way of farming and daily farm life in many ways.

Sara Lee Isom inherited the property in 1959 at the death of her father. She and her husband, William Walker Isom, continued raising grains and livestock on the acreage. During 1940-41, Walker Isom worked on the construction of Camp Forrest, used as a training camp for soldiers during World War II, and saved money to buy a John Deere tractor, the first one used on the farm. The farm was also used as a camp by soldiers on training maneuvers during the early 1940s.

In 1982, at the death of Sara Lee Isom, the farm was divided among her three daughters. Elsie Isom Bell received about 18 acres and the historic farm house. Mrs. Bell and her husband, Herman Ray Bell, later purchased a little over 55 acres from her sister, Mary Isom Elmore, which they sold to their daughter, Sharon Lynn Bell, who has renovated a former tenant house on the property. An additional 51 acres belongs to the children of the late Linda Isom Shearon. All three tracts of land are farmed together by Elsie Bell.

Mrs. Bell lives in the 1809 house which was built by her ancestor, Matt Martin. He and his brother, Barclay Martin, were Revolutionary War veterans who came to the area about 1806 and purchased 2400 acres of land. Mary Rachel Walker Lee, who married Fox Run Farm founder Russell Aubrey Lee, was a descendent of Matt Martin. Mrs. Bell, then, is also a descendent of the original builder of the nearly 200 year old house which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.