[221] Gibson County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

FOR RELEASE: Jan. 9, 2012
CONTACT Info: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


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

Thompson Homeplace Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)— The Thompson Homeplace, located in Gibson 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.
Thomas Thompson purchased 244 acres of farmland in the Mt. Olive community of Gibson County, northwest of Dyer, in 1841. Thomas, born in Orange County, NC, came to Gibson County from Maury County in middle Tennessee. Thomas married Elizabeth Koons, and they were the parents of four children, Mary, Elizabeth, John and Henry. The Thompsons cultivated cotton and corn and raised cattle and hogs.
John Thompson acquired the family farm in 1853. Under his ownership, the farm expanded to 319 acres. One of the first elders of the Mt. Olive Cumberland Presbyterian Church, John was married to Nancy Minerva Wright Thompson. Their children were James, Gideon and Luther A’Macy. James and Gideon died in childhood leaving Luther to inherit the farm in 1887. He married Martha Eulala Phillips Thompson and they were the parents of nine children. Luther died in 1913; Martha died in 1937.
Martha Evelyn Thompson, one of Luther and Martha Eulala’s children, acquired the family farm in 1937. She married Esbert McVay, and they were the parents of Benny Joe and Nancy Eulala.
In 1983, Nancy Eulala McVay Thompson inherited the family farm. She is married to James Wayne Thompson and their children are Stephen Dwayne and Cindy Rena Prater. The Thompson’s live in a house built in the 1850s. Cotton, corn, soybeans, wheat and hogs are raised on the 91-acre farm, which is worked by Gary Fesmire. Nancy’s family is still active in the Mt. Olive Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and after a tornado destroyed the building in 2006, her brother, Benny McVay, and his son, Micah McVay, were the contractors to rebuild the structure. Nancy’s granddaughters, Shelby Lynn Thompson and Haley Elizabeth Thompson, are the sixth generation to be raised on the Thompson Homeplace.
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.



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