292 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES STEWART COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Feb. 18, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES STEWART COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Walker Farm Becomes County’s Newest and 7th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Walker Farm in Stewart County recently was designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
Located near Bumpus Mills, the Walker Farm dates back to 1886 and was founded by William G. H. Walker. According to the family’s Civil War history, William fought in the battle of Fort Donelson at Dover. After the fall of Fort Donelson to the Union troops, he was given the choice of becoming a prisoner and marching to Nashville or to escape and swim the icy Cumberland River in February. He chose to escape and made his way home.
William married Nancy Ruth McKinney Walker and they had eight children. William also managed the farm. On 21-½ acres, the family produced tobacco, corn, wheat, cattle and hogs. Walker also mined iron ore at the site of the Saline Furnace, which was built in 1853 and operated until the Civil War.
The second owner of the farm was the founder’s son, James Henry Walker, who acquired the property in the 1890s. Married twice, he fathered nine children. During his ownership, the farm continued to produce tobacco, grains, and livestock.
In 1942, the grandson of the founder, Marvin Walker, acquired the land. Currently, Marvin and his wife Mary own and live on the farm, which is worked by Neil and Brian Wright. They continue to raise the farm’s traditional crops of corn, tobacco, cattle, hogs and hay. A log barn dates to the era of the Saline Furnace’s operation and the Walkers have a sugar kettle that was made at that furnace.
Hankins said the Walker Farm is the seventh certified Century Farm in Stewart 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 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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