[374] Bledsoe County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

For Release: April 5, 2012
Contact: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


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

Rains Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO— The Rains Farm, located in Bledsoe 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, Will Rains purchased 78 acres in the Sequatchie Valley, south of Pikeville on Old State Highway 28. He and his wife, Laura, had four children, Porter, Alfred, Howard, and Thelma – and grew corn and raised cattle.
Thelma Rains acquired the farm in 1950 and continued to raise cattle like her parents. For more than a half century, Thelma owned the property and though she did not marry or have any children, the land stayed in the family when the founder’s great-grandson, Amos “Grant” Rains, acquired the land in 2007.
Grant and his wife, Amanda Courtney Rains, live on the farm and raise beef cattle with Joel, Amos and Johnny Rains. Grant was involved in 4-H and FFA and is a member of the Tennessee Cattleman’s Association. He also is a Master Beef Producer, and the Rains are a Bledsoe County “First Family.” He has worked for TVA since 2004 and Amanda is a CPA. In 2009, the couple remodeled the house, which has been the homeplace of the Rains family for 107 years.
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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