[510] Henry County Farm Certified As Tennessee Century Farm

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

HENRY COUNTY FARM CERTIFIED AS TENNESSEE CENTURY FARM
State Program Will Honor Gregson Farm’s Owners at County Fair in August

(MURFREESBORO)—The 109-year-old Gregson Farm in Henry 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 1901, Dr. John Travis Bomar founded a farm of 169 acres in what is now Mansfield, Tenn. He and his wife, Lou Hoffman Bomar, had 12 children. Together, they raised mules, milk cows, chickens, hogs, sweet potatoes and cotton. Aside from farming, Bomar was a prominent Mansfield physician Having graduated from Vanderbilt at the age of 21, he practiced medicine for 44 years.
Of Dr. and Mrs. Bomar’s 12 children, it was son Orville who became the second- generation owner in 1910. He received the land in two pieces, 10 acres in 1910 and 160 acres in 1920. He and his wife, Hattie Vanhook Bomar, had eight children. He produced many of the same crops and raised livestock in the manner he knew while growing up on the farm.
Thomas T. Bomar, the son of Orville and Hattie, became the next owner in 1962. He acquired 18 acres from his mother and additional acreage on which he and his wife Mable raised cattle, corn and soybeans. In 1975, Rebecca Gregson Brewer, great-granddaughter of the founding couple, acquired the farm in 1975. She and husband Cecil N. Brewer raised cattle and hay, and had pastureland.
In 2010, Larry Q. Gregson became the owner of 55 acres of the original farmland of his great-grandfather, Dr. Bomar. Larry has been a farmer all of his life, first working with his father, Quincie P. Gregson, on the farm when it was owned by Thomas Bomar. During his years at Grove High School, he was active in 4-H, FFA, the Henry County Saddle Club and the Henry County Fair.
Married to Deneicia J. Gregson, Larry is a member of the Henry County Livestock Association as well as the Henry County Fair Board. He works other farms, in addition to this land, which is the 21st farm to be certified in Henry County.
The Gregson Farm, along with other Century Farms, will be recognized, at a reception at the Henry County Fair in August.

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.

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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 a jpeg 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.