[023] STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GREENE COUNTY PROPERTY AS PIONEER FARM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2009
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

STATEWIDE PROGRAM RECOGNIZES GREENE COUNTY PROPERTY AS PIONEER FARM
Greene County Fair Will Recognize Horse Creek Farm’s Contributions on Aug. 12

(MURFREESBORO)—The Horse Creek Farm in Greene County is one of a select group of historic farms in Tennessee to be designated as a Pioneer 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.
Jacob Broyles, a descendent of German and French immigrants who moved to the eastern part of Tennessee during the 18th century, founded the Horse Creek Farm in 1778. Family and community history indicates that this land was settled as early as 1765 and previously owned by Emanuel Sandusky.
According to reports, Cherokees are said to have kidnapped Sandusky’s daughter, and soon thereafter, he and moved to Newport. Prior to his departure, Jacob Broyles obtained the 640 acres. Although Broyles may have lived in the area and farmed the land earlier than 1778, it was Nov. 2 of that year that the deed was officially recorded for the property in what was then the state of North Carolina.
Jacob and his wife, Elizabeth Yowell, had seven children: Lewis, Delilah, Jeremiah, James, Keziah, John and Ezekial. As with most farm families, the Broyles were as self-sufficient as possible, raising a variety of livestock and crops, including cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, oats, barley and corn.
In 1794, still two years before Tennessee became a state, Lewis Broyles became the second generation to own the farm. He and wife Mary McCain also had seven children. During their ownership, the farm produced tobacco, barley, oats, wheat, cattle, hogs, sheep and horses. In addition to farming, the family built a gristmill on the property. According to the family’s records, a two-room house was built above the mill for the traveling doctor who came to the community.
The farm passed through several generations, and in 1989, the great-great- great-great-great-grandson of the founder, Tim Armstrong, acquired the land. Tim and his wife Nedra are the parents of Scott and Brandy. Tim and Scott work the land and raise corn silage, rye, orchard grass as well as registered Guernsey and Jersey cattle.
The family has been active in the community over the years. Tim served as a director on Farm Bureau Board in Greene County for four years, was a county commissioner from 1994 to 2002 and sat on the Greene County School Board from 2004 to 2008. Tim also served on the boards of Dairymen Incorporated, Mid-American Dairymen and Dairy Farmers of America. In addition to these organizations, Tim has also been “the voice” of the Black Knights basketball team at Chuckey-Doak High School.
Nedra was in the 4-H and all of the family has shown registered Jerseys and Guernseys throughout the state and in national shows in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Scott and Brandy have also been active in the 4-H and they both have received the American Farmer Degree from the FFA. They are the first family from Tennessee to have father, son and daughter to all receive the American Farmer Degree.
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PIONEER
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At 6 p.m. Aug. 12, the Greene County Fair will recognize and honor Horse Creek Farm, along with 45 other certified Century Farms, which now includes seven Pioneer Century Farms. These are farms that have been in the same family since before or in the year of 1796 when Tennessee became a state.
“Greene County is third in the state, following Wilson and Smith, in the total number of certified Century Farms,” Hankins observed. “It leads the state, however, in the number of Pioneer Century Farms, illustrating the county’s significance as an area of early settlement and agricultural traditions.”

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, which now includes Pioneer Farms, 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 this Pioneer Farm property, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.