[203] Cocke County Farm Joins State's Century Farms Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 20, 2009
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947

COCKE COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Leibrock Farm Becomes County’s 8th Tennessee Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO)—The Leibrock Farm in Cocke 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.
In January1886, William McMahan founded a 120-acre farm southeast of Newport, Tenn. He and his wife, Lydia, and their four children—Zora, Oscar, Richard David and Andrew—raised cattle, hay, tobacco, corn and many other crops on what was a largely self-sufficient farmstead.
In 1912, the farm, which had expanded to about 200 acres by this time, passed to the founding couple’s son, Oscar McMahan. After his death, the farm passed to his sister Zora and her husband, Frank Leibrock.
Following her Zora’s death, the farm became the property of the children of Zora and Frank. These heirs, Edward, Mack, Carolyn and Wilma, conveyed the family farm to William McMahan Leibrock, son of Edward, in 1980. William is the great-grandson of William and Lydia McMahan.
Today, William Leibrock, wife Charlotte and their daughter, Charlotte Ann, live on the farm. Several buildings on the farm date to the 19th and early 20th centuries. William reported that three of these are built of hewn logs and have their original cedar shingles. Each has been changed over time by the generations who have lived on the family farm, he noted.
“The Leibrock Farm is the eighth certified Century Farm in Cocke County,” Hankins confirmed.

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.


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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 owners or request jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.

























With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.