082 WHITE COUNTY FARM JOIN RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 21, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


Dixie Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Dixie Farm in White County has been 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.
In 1848, J. A. Walker set sail from Liverpool, England, aboard the Sailor Prince with his wife, Ann, and their three children, John Willy, Elizabeth Ann and Mary Jane. They arrived in New Orleans in November. The family, who had been eight weeks at sea, suffered the death of Mary Jane while living in New Orleans.
In July of the following year, the Walker family boarded the steamboat Old Hickory and arrived in Nashville one week later. Walker, trained to work in all types of leather, soon became the foreman of the saddle shop of Morrow Brothers in Nashville. The shop made saddles and bridles for the Confederate cavalry. Walker enlisted in the Confederate Army and served as a private throughout the war.
In 1869, he purchased a farm of just more than 317 acres for $5,000. The farm was located northeast of Sparta at Yankeetown, which was so named because Union troops camped there during the Civil War, Hankins says. Walker then moved his family from Nashville to his White County property that he named Dixie Farm.
His wife, Ann, was buried on the farm in a cemetery where Revolutionary War veteran Elijah Chisum and his wife were buried in 1818. In 1880, the Englishman was buried by his wife on their farm in Tennessee.
W. A. Walker, son of the founders, inherited a 53-acre share of the farm in 1880 and purchased another 53-acre share from his youngest brother. He and his wife, Mary Walker, had four children.
The farm remained in the family, ultimately became the property of Pauline Day, the great-granddaughter of the founder. In 2006, the land was acquired by Teddy Keith Day, the great-great-grandson of the founding Walkers. Today, Teddy and his son Darrell work the land, raising horses, hay and cattle. The house and a barn built in 1910 remain important parts of the history of this family farm that traces its lineage across two centuries and two continents.
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 obtain jpegs of this farm for editorial use, please contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.