130 BLOUNT COUNTY FARM JOIN RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

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

Robert McKenry and Sons Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Robert McKenry and Sons Farm in Blount 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 1845, Samuel McMurray McKenry founded a 166-acre farm east of Maryville. According to the family’s records, a “team of horses ran away with Samuel” and he died of injuries. After his death, Darcus Vineyard McKenry and his five children received the farm.
In 1915, the founder’s son, Samuel Edward “Ed” McKenry, acquired the land. While owning the farm, Ed moved to Knoxville to run his brother-in-law’s store. The store was known as “S. E. and Son” and sold items such as eggs, poultry and barrels of butter to bakeries and residents of the community. During this time, the farm was rented out and at harvest time the yield was divided among the owner, the renter, and for the upkeep of the horses. Ed married Lennie McKenry and they had five children.
Ed’s son, Guy McKenry, became the third-generation owner of the farm. Ed diversified to produce dairy cattle (milking anywhere from 40 to 155 cows), tobacco, chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, beef cattle, corn, hay, horses and vegetables. Ed and wife Minnie Knight McKenry had four children—Robert Russell, Joe Leonard, Mabel Carolyn and Raymond Eugene McKenry.
In 1951, Robert McKenry, the great-grandson of the founder, acquired the land. In 1970 and 1981, Bob received soil conservation awards and his wife Louise, was a part of the Prospect Home Demonstration Club in the 1960s and 1970s. Their sons, Bobby, Phillip and Rusty, were active in Future Farmers of America.
Today, Robert and sons Robert “Bobby” R. McKenry Jr. and Phillip Edward McKenry manage the farm. One of a dwindling number of Tennessee dairy farms, the McKenry’s milk up to 115 cows each day. They also raise beef cattle, tobacco, corn, hay, grains, horses, molasses, chickens, goats and sheep on the farm.
In addition to the farmhouse, which the owner lives in, a calf barn, corncrib, dairy barn, cattle barn and shed continue to be used. Three generations work on the farm, though family members live on their own land.
Robin McKenry Adams, granddaughter of the owner, prepared the Century Farm nomination on the McKenry Farm that their ancestors—many of whom are buried in the cemetery at Eusebia Presbyterian Church—founded more than 160 years ago.
Hankins said the McKenry Farm joins 29 other certified Century Farms in Blount County.
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, 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 said, “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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