072 HAWKINS COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 18, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


Lyonsdale Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Lyonsdale Farm in Hawkins County 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.
Around 1806, William and Matilda Lyons established the Lyonsdale Farm in Hawkins County. On 1,640 acres they raised tobacco and cattle. In addition to farming, William partnered with his son David and established a store known as William Lyons and Son. and locally known as Lyons Store. The two-story brick building, which was operated as a store from about 1800 to 1900, also served as the Lyons Post Office from 1837 to 1866. The conscription center for the Confederacy also was located at this building.
Located on the stage road, now Highway 11W, William and Matilda, the parents of nine children, also operated an inn and way station in their home.
The next owner of the land was their son, Clinton Gallagher Lyons. Married to Margaret Lavinia Cooke, the couple reared five children. During this generation, the farm continued to support primary crops including tobacco, livestock, and a variety of grains and vegetables. As time moved on, the farm was passed to Clinton’s son, William Cooke Lyons, and then it was acquired by William’s son, George Conner Lyons.
George and his wife Jessie Powell Draper had four children—Mary Elizabeth, Virginia Ewing, Frances Draper and Jessie Goodbar. In 1966, the great-great-granddaughter of the founder, Jessie Lyons Brown, acquired the farm. Today, she and husband William Horatio Brown IV oversee the farm’s management, leasing it to Wayne Byington, who raises tobacco, cattle and hay.
A two-story log home that was built in 1891, the historic Lyons Store and post office building, and a blacksmith shop that were constructed in the late 19th century are reminders of the 200 years of farming history that the Lyons family celebrates this year, Hankins said.
Lyonsdale Farm joins 17 other certified Century Farm in Hawkins County. Hankins added.
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. There are more than 1000 Century Farms across the state and all 95 counties are represented.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins says, “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, or to obtain jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.

***NOTE: PHOTOS OF THIS FARM ARE AVAILABLE.