[180] Grainger County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

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


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

Daniel Farm in Narrow Valley Community Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO— The Daniel Farm in Narrow Valley Community, located in Grainger 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 1905, Orville Daniel purchased 95 acres for $900 in the Narrow Valley community of Grainger County. Daniel raised a variety of crops on his farm, including hay, corn, tobacco, vegetables and fruit along with livestock such as milk cows, calves and mules. Orville and his wife, Minnie M. Cameron Daniel, boarded the teachers for the Narrow Valley School at their farm in 1906, also feeding the horses ridden by the teachers to school during the week. Orville and Minnie were the parents of Mayme Oleta, Ella Mae and John James, also called “Pat.”
In 1963, these siblings, Mayme Flora, Ella Simpson and Pat Daniel—acquired the farm. Ella’s widower, Deaderick Simpson, deeded his portion of the farm back to Pat in 1978, and Mayme Flora deeded her interest in the farm to Pat’s heirs in 1993. Pat Daniel, along with his wife, Pauline, and their children, David Ronald, Patsy Kay Boling and Sandra Gail West raised hay, tobacco, corn, vegetables, tomatoes, dairy cows, calves and Herefords and Black Angus beef cattle. During the 1940s, Pauline milked the cows and made and sold sweet milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese and molded butter to neighbors. She remembers it being “a lot of hard work with very small pay.” Pauline continues to manage the farm, as she has done since Pat’s death in 1980. She hires help for the daily farm operation, which today includes hay and vegetables.

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.


Celebrating its 100th anniversary and faithful to its roots as a teachers' college, MTSU continues as a top producer of teachers in Tennessee. Pride, Tradition and Excellence are the cornerstones of "Tennessee’s Best"!