[47] Bedford County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

For Release: Aug. 16, 2011
Contact: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


BEDFORD COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

Rowesville Valley Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO— Rowesville Valley Farm, located in Bedford 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 at MTSU.
The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.
In 1894, Milton Bond purchased 50 acres on Normandy Road in Bedford County for $500 with a promise to make payments for the next six years. He raised a variety of crops and livestock on his farm, including hay, corn, wheat, vegetables, fruit, cattle, chickens, hogs and horses. In 1912, he donated one-half acre to the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the Rowesville Methodist Church was built. The church served the community until 2008, when the property came back to the family. Milton married Lucinda Margaret Bond, and they were the parents of three children.
In 1918, Lena Bond Troxler, a daughter of Milton and Lucinda, and her husband, Walter Bearden Troxler, acquired the farm. They raised tobacco, hay, corn, vegetables, cattle, goats, chickens, hogs and horses. The Troxlers’ eight children were active in 4-H and later the Farm Bureau, and three sons served their country in the military, including two were in World War II. The Troxlers “lived off the land, survived the Depression years and sent six of their eight children to college,” the family says.
Upon Lena’s death in 1970, six of the children inherited the farm. Arthur and Frances Troxler lived and worked on the farm during this time. Between 1970 and 1992, the children and grandchildren of the third-generation owners often visited the farm to help in the garden, play in the creek and attend Rowesville United Methodist Church. Hay, Black Angus cattle, chickens and vegetables were raised on the farm.
In 1992, Carol T. Jones, the great-granddaughter of the founding couple, and her husband, John H. Jones, acquired the family farm where they live in a new home built on the site and using some materials salvaged from a 19th-century house. A neighbor, Todd Carter, works the farm where hay, vegetables, pears, blueberries and blackberries are raised.
Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farms Program.
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP at 615-898-2947.




Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. In September 2011, MTSU will celebrate its 100th year anniversary with special events and activities throughout the year—kicked off by a Blue-Tie Centennial Gala on Friday, Sept. 9.