020 BEDFORD COUNTY FARM JOIN S RANKS OF CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 4, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

BEDFORD COUNTY FARM JOIN S RANKS OF CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Hawkins Farm 18th in County to be Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Hawkins Farm in Bedford 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 1896, Mark Guy purchased a farm near Wartrace from Samuel and Virginia F. Tilford. On the land he raised horses and hay. According to the family’s records, Mark never married but was a father figure to his nephew and nieces, and in 1939, the land passed to his nephew, Guy Hawkins, and his grandnephew, Guy Garnett Hawkins.
Guy Garnett married Lockey Pearl Casey Hawkins and they had five children. Guy Hawkins wed Frances Cleo Powell Hawkins. During their ownership, the farm supported cattle, sheep, corn and hay. In the World War II years, maneuvers that trained American soldiers for combat were conducted on the hillside behind the house.
Guy and wife Frances produced dairy cattle, corn, silage, hay and sheep. Progressive farmers, they practiced conservation plans such as terraced fields, crop rotation, tile drainage, waterways development, grass fields, grassing rotation and constructed a pond and springs on the land. They were also very active in community organizations. Guy was a member of the Livestock Association, director of the Bedford Farmers Co-op, a member of the Bedford County Farm Bureau’s board, and later, served as director for Murfreesboro Production Credit Association. Meanwhile, Frances worked with 4-H clubs for 15 years and was the women’s chairperson for the Bedford County Farm Bureau and the Home Demonstration Club.
Guy and Frances were the parents of four children—Venson Guy, Claudia Margaret, Pamela Maude and Mark Powell. Mark and Venson both showed dairy cattle. One of their cows, Jester Bonnie Bell, garnered the Grand Champion of Tennessee title at the Mid-South, National and International Livestock Show in Chicago in the 1950s.
After Guy passed away in 1994, Frances inherited the farm. In 1996, Mark became the fifth generation to own the land. Under his ownership, the farm raised beef cattle and hay. In 2002, Mark Hawkins and his son James “Jimmy” Mark Hawkins became co-owners of the farm.
Jimmy is married to Lisa Marie and they have two children, Morgan Layne and Haley Marie. The Hawkins produce beef cattle, hay, corn and grower chickens.
Hankins said the Hawkins Farm joins 18 other certified Century Farms in Bedford 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 CHP 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.
“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.





ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview Hankins or the farm’s owners, or obtain jpeg images of this farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.