[447]STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES HAYWOOD COUNTY FARM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 19, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES HAYWOOD COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Morris Farm Becomes County’s Newest and 16th Designated Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO)—The Morris Farm in Haywood 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 1905, Harry Hill Stanley and Kathleen Lyle Stanley founded a farm just east of Stanton. The couple had two children, Mattie Bert and Ruth Lyle. On 123 acres, the family raised cotton, corn, mules and hay.
The granddaughter of the founders, Sara Lyle Harris Morris, and her husband, Billy Frank Morris, acquired the property in 1960. Their three children were named Karen Lynn, Lee Ann and William Harris. This generation of the family raised cotton, corn, soybeans and cattle.
Since 1971 when Billy passed away, Sara has been the sole owner. A smokehouse, tenant house, and two barns still stand on the property.
“The Morris Farm is the 16th farm to be certified in Haywood County,” Hankins noted.
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 owner or request a jpeg of the metal sign given to Century Farm owners, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.