[233] Putnam County Farm Joins State's Century Farms Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Dec. 11, 2009
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

PUTNAM COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Isaac Huddleston Farm Becomes County’s 10th Designated Century Farm to date

(MURFREESBORO)—The Isaac Huddleston Farm in Putnam 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.
Located eight miles southeast of the Cookeville Courthouse, the farm was founded in 1841 by Thomas Robinson of Grayson County, Va., who received a land grant of 100 acres signed by Tennessee Gov. James C. Jones.
Thomas (1787-1882) and wife Susannah Prior, who was born in North Carolina in 1798, and their eight children raised horses, corn, wheat and cattle on their 100-acre farm. They built a house in 1848, along with a smokehouse, log cabin, barn, corncrib and granary.
The eldest son, James S. Robinson, was the second owner of the farm. He and wife Syrena Isom expanded the farm to 300 acres, and with their nine children, raised horses, hay, corn and wheat. According to the family’s records, James Robinson raised some of the finest horses in middle Tennessee. During the Civil War, his horses were taken by Union troops and he was taken prisoner to care for them. He was released after a few weeks.
In 1881, James was given 890 acres of land in White County for compensation for the stolen horses during the war, with an additional 57 acres granted in 1887. James and Syrena moved to this farm and left the farm in Putnam County in the care of one of their daughter, Mary Jane Robinson, and her husband, Asbury R. Bullock.
After Syrena died in 1914, Mary Jane and Asbury acquired the farm. They built a third home on the land on Cherry Creek Road and lived there for the rest of their lives.
In 1919, after Mary Jane and Asbury’s death, their daughter, Arrie, and her husband, Ezra Davis, acquired the land. Although they lived in Cookeville, they managed the 300-acre farm through tenant farmers. Ezra Davis was a two-term mayor of Cookeville.
The fifth generation to own the farm was Mary B. Davis and her husband, Isaac Stanton Huddleston. They bought the land at an auction in 1949 when the Davis Estate was settled. On 140 acres, Isaac and Mary, with their four children, raised a variety of cultivated foods—from vegetables to strawberries—along with chickens, cows and pigs.
The couple’s main source of income, however, was tobacco. Aside from farming, Isaac Huddleston served as a Justice of the Peace of the Mount Herman Community and later as Trustee of Putnam County for two terms.

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After Isaac’s death in 1980, the land was willed to his four children, Hubert “Roe” Monroe, Neil, Ned (now deceased) and Mary Jane. Today, 100 of the farm’s 140 acres are the original land of Thomas and Susanna Robinson. Currently, “Roe” and Mary Jane continue to live on the farm, while Neil resides in Galveston, Texas. “Roe” is the farm’s manager and operator.
Although he no longer grows tobacco, “Roe”continues to raise hay, cattle and some vegetable produce. Additionally, continuing a progressive farming tradition started by his father, he completed a long-term soil conservation program and has also participated in a pasture contest.
“The Isaac Huddleston Farm is the 10th Century Farm to be certified in Putnam 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.
“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.