[471] Grundy County Farm Joins State's Century Farms Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

GRUNDY COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Burnett/White Family Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Burnett/White Family Farm in Grundy 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.
With historical and family ties to three other Grundy Century Farms; namely, the Jim Burnett Farm (1870), L. H. Burnett Farm (1870) and the White Family Farm (1855), the Burnett/White Family Farm is the eighth certified Century Farm in Grudy County.
In 1888, Isaac Newton “Ike” Burnett founded a farm of 36 acres in Pelham Tenn. A son of John Burnett Sr., Ike grew up on his father’s farm and later worked as a convict guard at the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company in Tracy City, Tenn., until the late 1890s. He then took a job as clerk in the company store, where he worked for 16 years. He used his wages to buy fencing and fertilizer, as well as repair farm machinery and pay the blacksmith. He and his wife, Lula Wooten, had four children, Mabel, John, Lora and Espa. They raised corn, hay and livestock.
The second owner of the farm was Ike’s brother, John D. Burnett Jr. John was born during the Civil War, and although he taught school for a time, he was principally a farmer. He bought his father’s farm from his siblings, except a share owned by Laura Burnett White, which totaled 86 acres by 1894. He and his wife, Mary Jane “Jennie” Wilson, had five children and raised corn, hay, cattle, mules and horses. John was always involved on the farm until an accident claimed his life at the age of 76, according to the family’s reports.
In 1955, the nephew of the founder, James Buford “Jim” Burnett, became the owner of 160 acres. He and wife Louvina Meeks Burnett had five children and raised corn, hay, soybeans, wheat and cattle.
Per the family, as a child Jim would ride mules bareback to break them for his father. A story the family recalls is that, at age 7, he and his father were on the way to Decherd and heard sirens and coal-mining whistles. When they arrived home, they learned that WWI was over.
The family also recounts that Jim and his brother bought their first car, an A-model, together. Also, Jim watched in amazement when the first plane flew over Pelham Valley and later, in 1969, watched as the first man walked on the moon. Having an eighth-grade education, he proudly boasted that all 10 of his grandchildren received a college education.
The current owners of the farm are Charles Emmett “Jack” White and his wife, Janice, who is the grandniece of the founder, Ike Burnett. Today, they farm the 36 acres of the original farm and raise hay, corn, soybeans and wheat. Charles and Janice also own the aforementioned White Family Farm.

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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, 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.