O. D. Stubblefield Farm
Dwight Stubblefield
In the early twentieth century, automobile owners demanded that state and local governments build modern paved highways. Many of these construction projects, then and today, eliminated prosperous farmland from production, but they also allowed farmers to have a more direct and efficient way to market their crops and most farmers eagerly assisted the new road construction. The O. D. Stubblefield Farm is only one of the Century Farms to be directly touched by the new highway system that crisscrossed the state.
In 1855, John Brinkley founded the Stubblefield Farm, located in the Raus community, and received clear title to the land in 1857. The North Carolina native paid $2500 for his 139 acres and his farm produced corn, some wheat and several types of livestock. John and his wife Nancy Smith Brinkley had six children. Like many Middle Tennessee planters, Brinkley’s farm suffered from Northern raids during the Civil War. Soldiers freed his fifteen slaves; they also took his corn crop.
John Brinkley died in 1900 and his will divided the land among his children. Matt Brinkley eventually bought much of the land and cultivated the family throughout the early twentieth century. According to tradition, Matt and his wife Margaret Smith Brinkley “always kept a nice farm and would loan money out to needy neighbors.” Matt also sold part of his land to allow the “Old Dixie Highway” (State 130) a right-of-way through the farm. The construction crews removed many of the farm’s limestone rocks for use in the foundation of the road.
Matt and Margaret’s only surviving child, Angie Brinkley, inherited the farm upon the death of her father in 1938. Thirty-six years later, she also died and the farm became the property of her husband, O. D. Stubblefield. After O.D. died in 1987, his son Dwight Stubblefield and his wife acquired the farm. Following Anne’s death, Dwight and his family continue to farm.