[462] STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES LOUDON COUNTY FARM’S CONTRIBUTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 11, 2009
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES LOUDON COUNTY FARM’S CONTRIBUTIONS
Robert Thompson Farm Brings County’s Tennessee Century Farms Total to 16

(MURFREESBORO, Tenn.)—The Robert Thompson Farm in Loudon County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
It was 100 years ago in May of 1909 that Robert Lee Thompson, a descendent of one of the earliest settlers in Loudon County and among the First Families of Tennessee, founded a 78-acre farm about 13 miles south of Maryville.
Married to Dora Poole Thompson, the couple had five children. Their names were Earnest Clyde, Clifford Lee, Warren Webb, Robert H. and Ruby Augusta. During their ownership, the farm produced tobacco, corn, wheat and cattle.
In 1956, Robert H. Thompson became the owner of the property. He raised a wide variety of crops and livestock, including tobacco, wheat, corn, watermelon, vegetables and cattle. In addition, Robert built a tool shed, a tobacco barn and remodeled the old house.
In 1967, Glenda L. Dotson, the granddaughter of the founder, and her husband, Joe H. Dotson, bought 52 acres from Robert H. Thompson, who never married. In 1993, Glenda purchased the rest of the property, and today, Joe and their son, Robert L. Dotson, work the land.
According to the family’s report, Joe raised tobacco for a number of years and then Robert took over the crop. The farm also produces cattle, vegetables and hay. A farmhouse and barn that are more than 100 years old still stand on the property.
The Robert Thompson Farm is the sixteenth Century Farm to be certified in Loudon County, Hankins said.
About the Century Farms Program

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 owners or request a jpeg of the farm, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.