[446]STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES McMINN COUNTY FARM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 16, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES McMINN COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Shultz Farm Becomes County’s Newest and 39th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO)—The Shultz Farm in McMinn 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.
In 1902, William Harris Shults and Susan R. Shults founded a farm near Athens. They were the parents of Daniel Wesley, Norah E., Berite L. and Fred H. On 234.5 acres, the family raised cattle, sheep, corn, watermelons and hay. After only a few years of owning the farm, William Harris passed away in November 1910.
From November 1910 to 1928, William and Susan’s oldest son, Daniel Wesley, worked the farm by cutting crossties, selling watermelons, raising sheep and logging wood to support his mother, brother, two sisters, wife, Katie and their four children, William Hubert, Dorothy Sue, Zenna Lee and James Wesley. Under Daniel’s ownership, the family added a Grade-A dairy, hogs, tobacco and cotton. In 1924, he tore down an older dwelling and built a two-story, nine-room house with two porches and a small basement.
Daniel Wesley was also very active in the community. In 1928, he was elected trustee of McMinn County. When he ran for trustee, he changed the spelling of Shults to Shultz. In addition to serving as county trustee, Daniel Wesley served for several years on the board of directors for Volunteer Electric and it was during his ownership that electric power came to the farm in 1939.
The third generation to own the farm was James Wesley and Sarah Lou Shultz. During their ownership, they purchased 80 additional acres on the north side of the original 234.5 acres. Although they had built a five-room frame house with a small basement when they married in 1939, the couple decided to build another house in 1964. In addition to the new house, the couple added a silo, modern dairy equipment, tractors, a combine, a hay baler, a bush hog and raised 100 white Leghorn chickens and sold eggs in the community. Not only did they improve the farm, but they also helped build a new brick church in the community. James and Sarah had two children, Wanda June and Wade M. Shultz. During high school, Wade was in the FFA and in 1965 he received the American Farmer recognition.
In 1969, the great-grandson of the founder, Wade M. Shultz, and his wife, Cecilia, acquired the farm. They are the parents of Patrick Wade, Joshua Wesley Cecil and Russell Matthew. Over the years, Wade and Cecilia have purchased 180 additional acres on the south side of the original land, built a two-story house and constructed a farm market on the original property.
Today, Wade and his son Russell work the land and raise beef cattle, hay, apple orchards, sweet corn, pumpkins, beans, watermelons, blueberries, blackberries and cantaloupes. The farm has many historic buildings on the land, including a rental house, WPA outhouse, a rock spring house, an original horse barn, a dairy barn, a cattle and hay barn, a tobacco barn, a silo, a smokehouse, tool sheds and a woodshed.
The Shultz Farm is the 39th Century Farm to be certified in McMinn County, Hankins said.
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.




—30—



ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request a jpeg of this Century Farm, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.