[492] MTSU News Release: Wilson County Farm Certified As Tennessee Century Farm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 28, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

WILSON COUNTY FARM CERTIFIED AS TENNESSEE CENTURY FARM
State Program Will Honor Swain Farm’s Owners at Annual County Fair

(MURFREESBORO)—The Swain Farm in Wilson 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.
Henry and Ella Swain founded a farm of 106 acres east of Gladeville in December 1909. With their seven children, they raised swine, dairy and beef cattle, chickens, hay and corn. Their farm was across the road from the farm that Henry grew up on, and eventually, he inherited his family’s farm of 110 acres that was founded in 1810.
Henry and Ella, parents of seven children, operated the farm through World War I and the Great Depression. When Henry died in 1935, Ella retained both the farms. As was the case with many of their neighbors, the Swain Farm was the site of military maneuvers during World War II.
The next owners of the farm were Henry and Ella’s son, Walter, and his wife Mary, along with their nephew, Milton, and his wife Evelyn. Walter and Mary had twin sons, James Edwin and Paul Wilson Swain. Along with Milton, wife Evelyn and their daughter, Marilyn, the family raised beef cattle, pigs, chickens, hay and corn. In 1951, after Ella died, the heirs sold the older Swain Farm that founded in 1810.
The current owners of the farm are James Edwin and Judy Swain, Paul Wilson and Carolyn Swain, and Marilyn Swain Williams and husband Tommy. The family raises hay, beef cattle, llamas and Tennessee walking horses.
Hankins said the Swain family will be recognized at the annual Century Farms luncheon at this year’s Wilson County Fair, as will other Century Farms that have been certified since last year’s fair.

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, 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.