328 CUMBLERLAND COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

108-Year-Old Homer Taylor Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Homer Taylor Farm in Cumberland 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.
David C. Taylor established the Homer Taylor Farm in 1899. During his ownership, the farm produced corn, potatoes, apples, hay, cattle, sheep, hogs and mules. Taylor fathered 12 children.
The next owner of the land was his son, Spencer Zachary Taylor, who acquired the farm in 1947. Married to Siddie Taylor, the couple had nine children—Homer, Dorothy, Raymond, Kenneth, Roscoe, Clyde, Reba, Clarice and Prentis. The family continued to diversify by including tobacco, strawberries, bell and pimento peppers and beans.
In 1955, the grandson of the founder, Homer Taylor, obtained the farm. Homer served in the U. S. Army and was stationed in Korea. He worked as a mason in Cumberland County and laid brick for many buildings such as the Cumberland High School, the Homestead, Pineview and Woody Schools, First Methodist Church, the Christian Church, the Cumberland County Bank, the Hills Department Store and numerous houses.
Homer and wife Laura, who passed away in 1994, had two children, Danny and Deborah, who live in Cumberland County. His brothers, Clyde and Prentis, also live near the farm on which they were reared.
Homer continues to work the land and lives on the farm with his wife, Doris. Currently, the farm produces corn, potatoes, apples, cattle, hogs, hay, beans, pepper, watermelons and tomatoes. According to the family’s records, the watermelons produced on the farm have won blue ribbons at the county fair for the last three years.
Hankins said the Homer Taylor Farm is the one of 12 certified Century Farms in Cumberland County.
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.
“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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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview Hankins or the farm’s owners or secure jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.