294 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES PICKETT COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES PICKETT COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
P & Z Farm Becomes County’s Newest and 5th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The P & Z Farm in Pickett 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 west of Byrdstown, the P & Z Farm that was founded around 1900 by Jim Henry Pierce. Married to Lorina Pierce, they had five children: G. Rowmanus, Alvin, Sophia Brooks, Dade Spurlin and Sis Anderson. In addition to raising row crops on the 68 acres, the family reports that there was a lead mine on the farm.
In 1907, the founder’s son, G. Rowmanus Pierce, acquired the property. He and wife Belle Dennis Pierce, had two children, though both died in infancy. The family also recalls that rare daffodils and rare May Day peonies were cultivated. During these early decades, the land for Reagan Road came from the farm.
In 1929, the farm was sold to Pierce’s first cousins, Posie, Walter and Roscoe. The cousins paid for the farm over the Depression years by raising and selling row crops and working at the blacksmith shop and at sawmills. The cousins farmed the land for several years, then they divided the land between the three of them. Over this 20-year period, the Pierce family entertained the local community with their reportedly well-known musical talents and dances were held at the old farmhouse.
The fourth owners of the farm were Woodrow Pierce and Gracie Irene Zachary Pierce, who acquired the farm from Roscoe Pierce in 1952. Gracie paid for the farm with $500 that she had saved and finished paying for the property the next year with a tobacco crop. While helping manage the farm, Woodrow also worked as a mechanic and at a sawmill. In addition, he raised and traded swine and grew tobacco.
Today, Richard W. and Lois D. Pierce own the farm, which produces cattle, hay and poultry. Among the buildings on the property are a house, built from materials recycled from homes torn down to make way for Dale Hollow Lake, and a barn—both of which were constructed in the 1940s and are mainly used for storage.
Hankins said the P & Z Farm is the fifth Tennessee Century Farm to be certified in Pickett 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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ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owners or request a jpeg of the Century Farm metal sign that is placed on designated properties, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.