241 GREENE COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 29, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


Waddell Nolachuckey River Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Waddell Nolachuckey River Farm in Greene 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 campus of MTSU.
In 1889, Jonathan “John” Wiley Waddell and his wife, Elvina Elizabeth Bowers Waddell, purchased a farm of just more than 231 acres southwest of Greeneville on the Nolichucky River. The couple and their four sons raised cattle, horses, hogs, chickens, tobacco, hay, corn, small grain and vegetables.
In 1930, two of their sons, William Robert Waddell and Decatur Fox Waddell, acquired the farm. Under their ownership, the farm continued to support a variety of crops and livestock. William married Hattie Rader Waddell and they had three children—William Adelbert, Peggy Jane and Betty Joe, who died as an infant.
In 1958, William and Peggy inherited the farm, and then in 1961 William purchased Peggy’s acreage. William married Madge Smith Waddell and they had two sons, Robert Frank Waddell and Darwyn William Waddell.
In 1993 and 1994, the great-grandson of the founder, Darwyn William Waddell, acquired the property. Today, Darwyn and wife Virginia, along with son Eric, work the land, where they produce cattle and hay. Several buildings, including a smokehouse and cattle and tobacco barns, remain on this homestead.
Hankins said the Waddell family farm joins 41 other farms in Greene County that have been certified as a Tennessee Century Farm. Greene County ranks third in the state in the number of Century Farms.
The Tennessee 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 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, or to read about the histories of Gibson County farms as well as others across Tennessee, please visit its Web site at 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 interview Hankins or the farm’s owners, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.


*** PLEASE NOTE: Nolachuckey (not Nolichucky) is the correct spelling in regard to referencing the Waddell Nolachuckey River Farm, per the farm’s owners.