[051]STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MAURY COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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

STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MAURY COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
135-Year-Old Alderson Homestead Farm Becomes County’s 11th Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO)—The Alderson Homestead Farm in Maury County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, making it the 11th in its county, reported Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
During the first decade following the Civil War, James Frank Alderson and wife Sarah Catherine Alderson established a 94-acre farm in the Santa Fe community that they purchased in 1873. The couple had five children: William James, Benjamin E., Sarah “Sally,” John Baker and Thomas Edward. With the help of tenant farmers, the family raised a variety of livestock and crops such as corn, hay, cattle, mules, vegetables, horses, poultry, sheep and honey.
The second generation to own the farm was Thomas Edward Alderson. Married to Frances Deletha Fitzgerald, they had nine children. During their ownership, the farm produced corn, hay, mules, horses, cattle, pigs, chickens, vegetables, fruit, honey, sheep, wool and they logged on the property. Thomas imported jacks from Spain to use in mule breeding and the mules were used to clear and plant corn on the steep hillsides.
During the fruit season, the family dried their fruit on top of the henhouses and stored them in the cellar under the house for later use. The family also belonged to a “meat club,” wherein a group of families would work together to process fresh meat on a regular basis so it could be consumed before it spoiled. By belonging to the club, the family had a steady supply of fresh meat in addition to the pork that was salted and smoked each fall during “hog-killing” time.
According to the family’s reports, the farm was surrounded by several springs, four of which run year round. On one of the springs, a rock springhouse was constructed and was used to cool milk, butter and meat. The second spring fed into a large pond that had catfish and the other two springs ran on the hillside serving the tenant houses on the property.
After Thomas and Frances passed away in the 1930s, their children inherited the farm. Eventually, Novie Alderson Ladd acquired the entire farm from her siblings. She and husband George Caleb Ladd had two children, George Caleb II and Thomas Rye. Prior to acquiring the land, Novie and her husband had lived with her parents after her house was destroyed by fire.
According to the family, Novie was only able to save her sewing machine during the fire. After George Clabe Ladd died in 1923, Novie continued to run the farm with the help of her sons and tenant farmers. She also took care of her brother, James Otey, who was confined to a wheelchair. Otey suffered from arthritis, which may have resulted from his having been frozen to the saddle on several occasions when he was logging. One of Novie’s favorite farming activities was working with the chickens. The family reports that she kept chickens until she was well into her 90s and could often be found at the barn hunting for eggs.
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In 1949, Novie sold the land to her son, Thomas Rye Ladd. He wed Nadie Lee Gary Ladd and they had four children: Thomas Gary, Judith Anne, Ronald Rye and George Caleb III. Under his ownership, the farm experienced many changes and improvements. With the introduction of gasoline-powered farm machinery, row cropping on the farm ended and the hills became grazing land for cattle and sheep. During the 1950s, electricity came to the farm and propane gas replaced the fireplaces as heat sources. All of the children of Thomas Rye and Nadie Ladd completed collegiate and post-graduate degrees and pursued careers not related to agriculture. This trend was often seen from the 1960s on as families found it more difficult to make a living in farming.
In 1990, Thomas Rye Ladd sold 55 acres to his daughter and current owner of the farm, Judy Ladd Melton. In 2006, Judy inherited the remainder of the land. She hired Everett Stewart, a master builder, to construct an exact replica of the original farmhouse that was built in 1900. Per the family, the original flooring, doors, mantels, beaded-board wall paneling, staircase banisters and ornamental woodwork were transferred to the new house. In addition, several pieces of the original furniture now occupy the rooms in the new house.
While the farm still has the house that was built in 1900, it also has a smokehouse and tobacco barn on the land. Currently, owner Judy leases the land to Heath Bone, who raises cattle and vegetables.
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 denoting 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 jpegs of the farm, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.