[382]STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES LAUDERDALE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 8, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES LAUDERDALE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
New-Williams-Summar Farm Becomes County’s 6th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The New-Williams-Summar Farm in Lauderdale County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms Program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
According to the farm’s history, during the period of Reconstruction after the Civil War, W. D. New purchased 116 acres in Lauderdale County in 1869. Married to Nannie Wheatly, the couple was parents to five daughters. On the land, the family raised cotton, corn, cattle, hogs, sorghum, orchards and chickens. In 1914, the land was divided between their five children.
The tract that was nominated for Century Farm designation was inherited by Mary Etta New Williams, who was born on the farm in 1870. She married Frank Williams and they had six children. During her ownership, cattle, hogs and chickens were part of the livestock that was raised. The family also grew cotton, corn and orchard fruits on what was essentially a self-sufficient farm. Mary Etta lived on the farm all of her life and died in February 1962 at age 91.
Her daughter, Mary Helen Williams Summar, inherited the property, owning the farm from 1962 to 2002. She, in turn, deeded the property to her daughter, Dorothy Louise Summar Woodard, who is the current owner of the farm. Today, Charles Simpson rents the farm and raises cotton, corn and soybeans on the land.
“The New-Williams-Summar Farm, representing nearly 140 years of family farming—and 94 years of that time under the ownership of three generations of women—is the sixth Century Farm to be certified in Lauderdale County,” Hankins observed.
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.