[121]STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MADISON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 29, 2008
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES MADISON COUNTY FARM FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
159-Year-Old Blackmon-Parrish Farm is County’s 12th Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Blackmon-Parrish Farm in Madison 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.
Burrell Blackmon, whose family migrated to Madison County from Moore County, N.C., between 1830 and 1840, founded the Blackmon-Parrish Farm in 1849. Married to Mary Elizabeth Watson, the couple had nine children though three died in infancy. On the 92 acres, the family raised corn, wheat, cotton, sweet potatoes, horses, cattle, swine and sheep. Eldest daughter Elizabeth Jane ultimately purchased the farm from her siblings.
Elizabeth Jane and husband Fountain Willis Parrish were the parents of Burrell Smith, Walter Azbury, Charlie Jones, Fountain Ernest and Lora Lee. In 1908, Burrell and Walter purchased 48 acres that adjoined the original farm, along with another 19 ¾ acres that was adjacent to the farm. After the death of their mother, Burrell and Walter purchased the 92 acres from their siblings.
In 1915, Walter sold his half of the farm to Burrell and his wife, Dora Ann Woods. During their ownership, they built a frame house on the property facing the Spring Creek Road. The couple had three children and they helped with the farm chores. According to the family records, Burrell and Dora farmed and operated a dairy for many years and their daughters helped raise chickens and eggs. The family traveled to Jackson by wagon to market their produce and poultry.
Hester, one of their daughters, and her husband Fred Exum Jr. moved back to the farm after Burrell developed glaucoma and lost his eyesight, and with Dora, they operated the farm. After Burrell’s death in 1957, Fred continued to manage the farm. Dora lived until 1971, dying just before her 92nd birthday.
During the 1960s and 1970s, Fred and Hester made many improvements to the farm, including constructing a new brick home and adding two equipment sheds. In addition, the farm had a large barn that housed livestock and mules that were used for gardening and pulling cotton wagons. The family also helped raise registered Yorkshire hogs and Santa Gertrudis cattle, along with cotton, corn, soybeans and hay. In 1991 Fred passed away Hester followed in 2005, having lived almost all of her 90 years on her family’s farm.
In 2005, the great-great-granddaughter of the founder, Carol Ann Exum Watson, acquired the farm. She and husband Harold and their sons, Jody and Scott, currently raise beef cattle and hay. Son Jody, wife Diana and their son, Hunter, are the sixth and seventh generations to live on the farm. Since moving to the farm, Jody and Harold have restored and updated the sheds; plus, adding cattle working facilities where the milking barn once stood.
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The Blackmon-Parrish Farm is the 12th Century Farm to be certified in Madison 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 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 owners or request a jpeg of the Century Farm signed presented to farm owners for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.