028 THREE WILSON COUNTY FARMS GARNER CENTURY FARMS DESIGNATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 17, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

Farms Among those to be Honored at County Fair Event on Aug. 24

(MURFREESBORO)—Three Wilson County farms—Baird Farm, Haley-Murphy Farm and Peach Farms—have been designated as Tennessee Century Farms, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
Hankins said these farms, along with others certified in the past 12 months, will be honored at the annual Century Farm Luncheon at the Wilson County Fair on Aug. 24, which is co-sponsored by the Wilson County Fair Board, the Farm Credit Service and the Wilson County Farm Bureau.
• Blake Rutland established the Baird Farm, one of the rare 200-year-old family farms, in 1801. Married to Martha “Patsy” Watson, the couple had nine children. On 640 acres they raised wheat, corn and cattle. According to CHP records, this family founded the Rutland community before Mt. Juliet came into existence.
In addition to managing the farm, the family also owned one of the first mills in the western part of Wilson County. Rutland also donated land for the Rutland Baptist Church, the Rutland School and the Colored Rutland School. Today, a nearby school is named for this early settler and community leader.
The next owners of the farm were Blake’s son-in-law, John Cawthon and his wife, Parthenia Watson Rutland. John and Parthenia reared five children, and their son, John Rutland Cawthon, became the third owner of the land. John was married Ruth Alford and they had three children.
Eventually, the land was passed to the couple’s son, Francis Marius “Frank” Cawthon. As time moved on, the land was acquired by Herman Tyler Burnett and Perry Turner Burnett, descendents of the founders through their mother, who was a Cawthon. During their ownership, they built a five-acre lake on the southwest end of the farm. According to the family, the lake was stocked with game fish and was the site of many baptisms before the Center Chapel Church of Christ baptistery was installed at the church in 1953.
Today, the land is owned and managed by Woodrow Baird, who is the widower of the fourth great-granddaughter of the founder. The land is worked by Barry Graves, a cousin. Currently, the farm produces beef cattle and hay. Baird lives in a house that was constructed by a family member in the 1890s. His daughter, Austelle, and her husband, Don Smartt, and their family also live on the farm.
• In 1821, David Young came from North Carolina and began farming on 247 acres, part of which is now known as the Haley-Murphy Farm. Married to Sarah “Sally” Phillips Young, the couple had 14 children. On Clendenan Branch, the family raised wheat, corn, hay, cattle, mules and horses.
The founders’ son, David Young Jr., acquired the property following his father’s death in 1856. Along with wife Mary “Polly” Calhoun Young, they reared seven children—Thomas Calhoun, Amanda, Sally, Tennessee, Frances, David E. and Adeline.
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Thomas was the next owner of the farm. He married Mary A. Carter Young and they had four children. In addition to managing the farm, Thomas was a member of the Big Springs Presbyterian Church. His son, Thomas Lee Calhoun “TLC” Young, was the next owner of the property.
Under TLC’s ownership, the farm produced corn, hay, wheat, tobacco, jacks, jennets, mules, horses, cattle and sheep. According to the family, TLC was a pioneer breeder of five-gaited and three-gaited American Saddlebred horses. The family reports that he was the first man in Tennessee to sell a gaited hose for $10,000. He showed and judged saddlebred horses throughout the south and southwest, and was considered a leading judge in the middle Tennessee area. TLC married Sonora “Nora” Bradshaw Young and they had 10 children.
The farm passed to their daughter, Kate Eula Young Murphy, and then the great-great-great-grandson of the founder, Charles Young Haley, who was married to Margaret H. Phillips, eventually obtained it. The Youngs produced wheat, corn, hay, cattle, horses and tobacco. The daughters of Charles and Margaret, Mary Grace Haley Gregory and Sarah Carolyn Haley Hogue, acquired the farm in 1997. The acreage is currently leased to Jerry and Earl Burton.
• In 1848, Gasaway Peach established the Peach Farm near Mt. Juliet. On the 75 acres, he produced corn, cattle and poultry. In addition to managing the farm, Gasaway served as one of the first trustees for the Pleasant Grove Methodist Church in 1852. Married three times, he fathered six children.
The second owner of the farm was Gasaway’s son, Madison Lee “Matt” Peach. During the Civil War, Matt served in the Company H 46th Tennessee Infantry. Along with his wife, Elizabeth C. “Bettie” Telford, the couple had three children, although one infant daughter died in 1873. The family recalls that Bettie told her grandchildren about the Civil War and how she watched from her porch as soldiers marched along the old Stewarts Ferry Pike.
Mattie Anthony Peach, daughter of Bettie and Matt, and her husband, Perry Turner Burnett, acquired the land in 1917. The couple raised cattle, poultry, corn and mules. Perry was a widely known breeder of mules and he played an important role in establishing the industry. While they managed the farm, Perry and Mattie were also very active in their community, with Perry serving as the sheriff of Wilson County from 1936 to 1940 and as an elder at Center Chapel Church of Christ. Mattie was a member of the Hamilton Hill Home Demonstration Club and the “Granny Club.” In addition, they were both members of the Wilson County Farm Bureau and the Wilson County Livestock Association. Perry and Mattie had two children, Eleanor Austelle Burnett and Myra Myrtle Burnett.
In 1974, the current owner of the farm, Myra Burnett Bates, obtained the land. Today, the farm is worked by Myra’s great-nephew, Jack Simms, who mainly raises beef cattle. Myra and husband Verna are members of the Wilson County Farm Bureau and she currently serves on the Women’s Farm Bureau Board. She also is a past member of the Hamilton Hill Home Demonstration Club and her husband is a member of the Wilson County Livestock Association.
“Currently, Wilson County has more Century Farms than any other county in Tennessee,” reports Hankins, “and their annual luncheon, as well as their Century Farm museum on the fairgrounds honoring the farm families, is a model for other counties to follow.”

The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today, the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign to Century Farm families, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production,”
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee. There are more than 1,000 Century Farms across the state and all 95 counties are represented.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” said Hankins, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.



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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request an interview with the owners of these farms, or to obtain jpegs of the farms for editorial use, please contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.