[094]STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES ROANE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

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

STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES ROANE COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
183-Year-Old Cooley Farm Is County’s Oldest Century Farm, Hankins Confirms

(MURFREESBORO)—The Cooley Farm in Roane 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.
Established in 1801, Roane County currently has four certified Century Farms, all founded before the Civil War. Of these properties, the earliest is the Cooley Farm, which dates from 1825, Hankins said.
Regarding the farm’s history, Elijah Cooley, who is listed in the book Pioneers of Roane County, along with wife Jermima and their son, Benjamin, farmed 160 acres, where they raised tobacco, vegetables, hay, corn and cattle.
In 1855, Benjamin acquired the land. He married Malinda and they had eight children. Under this generation, the farm produced tobacco, corn, hay and cattle. During the Civil War, Benjamin “B. F.” was a scout, or as was described in a letter the family still has from that period, a “bushwacker.”
Elijah Cooley, named for his grandfather, was the third-generation owner, acquiring the farm in 1901. For next three generations and for the whole of the 20th century, the farm was owned by women, beginning with Elijah’s daughter, Alice C. Parker, in 1920. Her daughter, Bonnie Allison, became the owner in 1944, and her daughter, Justine (Mrs. George) Curnutt, was next to acquire the farm in 1973. Tobacco was grown for most of this time and cattle has remained a constant product of the Cooley Farm.
Marlin Curnutt, son of Justine and George, acquired the property in 2007. He is the seventh-generation owner of the family farm. Today, neighboring farmer Joe Kyle raises hay and cattle on what is the oldest Century Farm in Roane 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 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.


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“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, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.