[509] Wilson County Farm Certified As Tennessee Century Farm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

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

(MURFREESBORO)—The Rice 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.
Andrew Jackson was a land speculator and farmer, as well as a lawyer, in the early years of Tennessee’s statehood. It was from this future president that John Rice, who hailed from Caswell County, N.C., purchased 214 acres in 1800. The receipt, which has remained in the family along with the deed, notes that Rice paid the equivalent of $1 per acre for the property in a combination of French crowns and dollars.
On the farm, John and wife Mary and their seven children raised cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, hay and grain. During this time, about 14 families established the community of Gladeville near the Pond Lick Creek. The family cemetery was also established during this time, with the earliest grave dating 1811. It is thought to be one of the earliest cemeteries in Wilson County and has 150-200 graves, many of which are the graves of slaves, according to the family’s reports.
By 1821, the farm was owned by three sons of John and Mary. Benjamin married Elizabeth Climer; John married Nancy Ramsey; and Simeon remained a bachelor. Benjamin and Nancy were the parents of William C. and John and Nancy had three children.
William C. Rice acquired the property in 1864. He and wife Catherine Gates had been married since 1841, and with their seven children, they continued the family’s traditional crops and livestock and added a mill. The family has several documents from the period of the Civil War and Reconstruction, including a receipt for $16.50 for a “rifle and accoutrements” that was sold to Col. R. Bell of the Confederate Army. Another document shows that William signed an oath of allegiance to the Union in August 1863.
In 1909, 103 acres of the original farm went to Thomas J. Rice, son of William and Catherine. With his wife Nannie, a second cousin, and their three children, Annie, Minnie and Ezra, the family raised hay, corn, fruit, cattle and a large garden.
Ezra “Edd” Rice acquired 103 acres in 1940. Married to Carmen Murphy, they were the parents of Christine and Phillip. They continued to raise a garden, corn, hay and cattle. Wilson County, along with surrounding counties, was the site of military maneuvers during World War II and the Rice Farm saw its share of this training. The war was brought much closer to the Rice family when Philip, serving in the Air Force, died in the service of his country in 1942.
Christine Rice Robinson and husband Sam became the sixth owners in 1981. With their son, Phillip Darryl, they raised cattle, goats and pastureland. In 2005, Phillip Darryl Robinson acquired the farm that has been in his family for more than 200 years.

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Today, he owns 70 acres of the original farm that John Rice bought from Andrew Jackson in 1800.
Darryl continues to raise hay and cattle as well as pasture and. He reports that when Highway 840 came through the farm, he donated the original log dwelling, built by John for Mary and their family, to Fiddler’s Grove at the Wilson County Fairgrounds.
“It is fitting that Darryl will represent his family—the Rices are a First Family of Tennessee—and the farm will be recognized at the annual Century Farms luncheon at the Wilson County Fair in August,” Hankins noted.

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.