067 FARM BECOMES 15th CENTURY FARM IN JEFFERSON COUNTY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 14, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


100-Year-Old Neil Manley Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Neil Manley Farm in Jefferson County recently was designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
According to CHP records, it was 100 years ago that Reed W. Manley and his family came from Milo, Iowa, and founded a farm just west of Jefferson City. The land he bought was owned during the 1860s by Dr. Isham Peck. According to the family, a skirmish took place on this property during the Civil War, resulting in the death of 12 soldiers from both the Confederate and the Union armies. Five days after this skirmish, the Battle of Mossy Creek in Jefferson City occurred.
Reed was married to Effie C. Manley; the couple had three children, Mary Cate, Rolla R. and Marshall Neil. The Manelys operated a Grade A Dairy and raised hogs, sheep, chickens and tobacco. Their son, Neil, recalls that the “big day of the year was threshing wheat, oats and barley.”
In 1970, Neil acquired the land. He and his wife Gladys Crawford Manley are the parents of three children. Neil has received many recognitions, including Conservation Farmer of the Year in 1986 and producer of “Champion Alfalfa Hay” in 1987 and 1992.
Neil continues to manage and operate the farm, cultivating alfalfa and orchard grass and raising beef cattle. A main residence, a corncrib shed, a tobacco barn and a storm cellar structure, all built in the early 1900s, still stand on the land today. The property was recognized in the book. Jefferson City 200 Years in Pictures, which was published in 2003.
Hankins said the Neil Manley Farm is the 15th farm in Jefferson County to be certified as a Century Farm.
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 noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
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.
Currently, 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,” Hankins observed, “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 this farm for editorial use, please contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.