141 SCOTT COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Oct. 23, 2006
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


Jerome D. Reed Farm One of Two in County Recognized for Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Jerome D. Reed Farm in Scott County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, making it one of only two Century Farms in this county, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the MTSU campus.
On July 3, 1880, Joel Colby Reed founded a 200-acre farm located south of Oneida. Married to Emily Smith Reed in 1871, the couple had 11 children. The family grew cattle, hogs, soybeans, hay and corn and kept bees. The family, in fact, still owns Joel’s 1891 reference book on beekeeping, Hankins reported.
The son of a Union soldier, Reed was very active in the community and he donated land for the Niggs Creek School, the Hazel Valley church and the Hazel Valley cemetery, one of the largest cemeteries in Oneida. He also leased his land to different companies such as the Oneida and Western Railroad and the Oneida Stave and Lumber Company. He deeded the right of way to the Oneida and Western Railroad, which remained solvent until the 1950s, but it is now included in the boundaries of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area.
The next owner of the farm was Joel and Emily’s eldest son, Irel Joseph Reed. Married to Martha Ann Phillips Reed, the couple had seven children. In addition to farming, Irel was a blacksmith. He made horse-drawn plows, hand-hewn wooden mallets, cowbells and other farming tools. Irel also worked as storekeeper in the community originally known as Reed’s Station, where many of the items grown and produced on the farm such as butter, honey, Irish potatoes and eggs were sold at the store.
Hankins said Irel also kept journals of day-today activities, including births, deaths, marriages and store accounts, all of which are great sources of family and community history. He also planted hickory and walnut trees and various apple trees, many of which still produce nuts and fruits today. A rare Balm of Gilead Poplar still grows on the farm, and according to the family’s records, Martha Reed used the sap of this tree to make a salve that was said to cure many ailments.
The third generation to own the land was Jerome James Reed, the second son of Irel and Martha Reed. Jerome raised hogs and a garden that included a large pumpkin patch. In 1958, Jerome worked with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to construct a nearly one-acre pond that has been stocked with bream, bass, and catfish over the years. Jerome also was a conductor on the Tennessee Railroad.
Today, the land is owned by Jerome Denton “J. D.” Reed, the great-grandson of the founder. J. D. worked as a salesman for H. T. Hackney Grocers in Oneida and retired from Lay Packing Company in Knoxville in 1996. L. D. is married to Bertha Brewster Reed, who grows a large annual vegetable garden that is admired by neighbors. She continues to can and preserve the garden produce.
J. D and Bertha—along with daughter Myra, who prepared the well-documented Century Farm application, and her husband, Robert Marcum Jr.—live on the farm. The Reeds continue to produce hay to sell to cattle farmers. J. D. owns the majority of his grandfather’s original farm equipment and the 1937 English-style barn is used for storage.
Myra Reed writes that the family is “extremely proud of their farming heritage as well as their Reed ancestors.”
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 1,000 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.

—30—

• 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.