198 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GREENE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 27, 2007
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GREENE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
150-Year-Old Still Hollow Farm Becomes County’s 44th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Still Hollow 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 MTSU campus.
The Allen family of Greene County traces its history back to Robert Allen, who moved to the area from Pennsylvania in 1786. His son, Daniel, was a contemporary and friend of Andrew Johnson, Greeneville tailor and alderman. However, it was Daniel’s son, James Allen Sr., who established a farm of 560 acres about nine miles southwest of Greeneville in 1857 and it remains in the family today.
According to the family’s records, founder James attended nearby Tusculum Academy and was involved in local politics. He first married Laura Brown, who died in 1878, and then wed Mollie Birdwell. He was the father of James Jr., Alice and Sarah Louisa. The Allens raised beef cattle, corn, wheat, horses and hogs
James Allen Jr. acquired the property in 1885. He served in the Tennessee General Assembly from 1903 to 1907 and from 1923 to 1925. The family reports that James was instrumental in introducing a bill to appropriate money for making improvements on and helping to preserve the tailor shop of his father’s friend, former President Andrew Johnson. In addition to politics, James helped drive a team of oxen and a covered wagon that hauled an organ to Greeneville from South Carolina.
As noted in the book, Greeneville: A One Hundred Year Portrait, the organ was installed in the St. James Episcopal Church and remains the oldest organ in the state of Tennessee. Parts of the covered wagon that carried the organ are still preserved in the farm’s granary.
Married to Elizabeth Jay Birdwell, sister of Mollie, James Jr. and his wife had no children, but they reared her nephew, George Leo Birdwell Sr., and her two nieces, Elizabeth and Louise Birdwell.
In 1934, Louise Birdwell, who married Otis Harrison, became the next generation to own the farm. Tobacco became the major cash crop for the Harrisons who raised corn, wheat, hogs and beef cattle. Then, in 1952, the
great nephew of the founder, George Leo Birdwell Sr., obtained the property. George married Julia Gladys Russell and they had five children—George Jr., Johnny, Luke , Jay and Lois.
While George continued to raise tobacco, corn, wheat and beef cattle on the land, he added a dairy business to the farm. Beginning in 1928, George developed several milk routes, hauling his patrons’ milk as well as his own to Greeneville and the Pet Milk Company, the local bottling and distributing company. George is said to have taken great pride in his dairy business, and in 1953, he expressed his thoughts in the Pet Milk Company’s newsletter, “Pet Dairy Chats.”
In the newsletter, George was quoted as follows: “Selling milk has meant a better standard of living for our family, better furnishings for our home and more good equipment on the farm. Dairying helps to keep good tenants, and milk cows have improved our land greatly.”
The family remembers that as the dairy business grew, the milk routes became additional jobs for the Birdwell sons.
In 1973, the great-great-nephew and the current owner of the farm, Jay D. Birdwell, obtained the land. Today, Jay and wife Ann Birdwell, their son, George Birdwell, and their niece, Amanda Kilday, all of whom live on the farm with their families, work the farm. Currently, the farm produces sweet corn, fresh-water prawns, cattle and tobacco.
Hankins said family history records that when founder James Allen Sr. began building the first covered Allen’s Bridge across the Nolichuckey River in 1862, he also began building his own farmhouse using the same hand-cut stones for the foundation that were used for the bridge supports.
The house “is central to the identity and pride of our farm,” noted the current owners, Jay and Ann, in their Century Farm application.
Over the years, the farm’s generations have preserved the original glass windowpanes at the front entrance, original picture molding, ceiling paper and working oil light fixtures. In addition to the house, the property has a herringbone-patterned brick walkway. The family reported that when the bricks were fired on site for the house, the walks were also built.
A log barn and smokehouse, also dating to the first half of the 19th century, are also part of the historic landscape. The granary that was built in 1860 is presently being used as The Farmers Wife gift shop.
Hankins said the Still Hollow Farm is the 44th Tennessee Century Farm to be certified in Greene 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.



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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owners, or to obtain jpegs for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.