295 STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES JACKSON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES JACKSON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Brown Farm Becomes County’s Newest and 6th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Brown Farm in Jackson 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.
In 1896, Hiram Sam Brown established his 100-acre farm near Granville on land that was a parcel of around 8,000 acres settled by Thomas and Nancy Litton Brown in 1800. Thomas Brown (1773-1867) fought with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. Hiram Brown’s farm is located just south of the historic Avery Trace and five miles from Fort Blount.
Married to Barbara A. Brown, the couple had eight children: James Howard, Bertha, Sallie, Dora, Charlie, Willie, Ethel and Lena. The family produced cattle, tobacco, sheep and corn. In 1945, James Howard Brown acquired the farm, and during his ownership the farm supported livestock, corn and tobacco. James Howard and Mary Helen Brown also had eight children.
Current owners Jack Brown and his wife Betty have also reared a big family on this farm. Their children are Russell, Randy, Timmy, Tommy, Sammy, Alan and Angela. All were involved in the 4-H Club at Flynns Lick Elementary School.
Today, beef cattle and hay are the primary products of the Brown Farm, where a tobacco barn is a reminder that this crop was raised by each generation until 1990.
Hankins said the Brown Farm is the sixth certified Century Farm in Jackson 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.