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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 1, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


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

Tranquility Farms Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—Tranquility Farms, located in McMinn 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 production continuously for at least 100 years.
Situated along the Pond Hill-Tranquility Road is a farm of 73 acres purchased in spring of 1909 by Carroll L. Hutsell. He and his wife, Nannie Renna, had seven children: Velma, Joe, Holloway, Clyde, Bertha, Eula and Clay. Their primary crops were tobacco and hay.
By 1954, the full 73 acres of land had been purchased by Bennett C. Hutsell, grandson of the founders, and his wife, Carol Frye. Currently managing and operating the farm is Donald Hutsell, the grandson of Carroll and Nannie Hutsell and son of Clyde Hutsell. He and his wife, Lou Jean, live on the family farm and on their property, which includes another parcel of some 87 acres, they raise hay, grapes and beef.
Tranquility Farms is the 42nd property to be recognized in McMinn County, which ranks fourth in the state in the total number of certified Century Farms.
Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in 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. MTSU now boasts one of the nation’s first master’s degree programs in horse science, and the Council of Graduate Schools in Washington, D.C., acclaims MTSU’s Master of Science in Professional Science degree—the only one in Tennessee—as a model program. This fall, MTSU unveiled three new doctoral degrees in the sciences.