[096] Overton County Farm Join Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

OVERTON COUNTY FARM JOIN RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

Full Circle Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Full Circle Farm, located in Overton 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 Farm Program, established by the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years.
Located northeast of Livingston near the Monroe post office, the farm was established in 1885 by James Young. His 150 acres of land included the Collum house, one of the earliest residences in the county, and was adjacent to the remains of Confederate Camp Meyers Zollicoffer. James and his wife, Malissa Beaty, had 11 children, born in both Fentress and Overton counties. They raised corn, tobacco, hay, cattle, pigs, chickens, and household food items.
In 1924, the daughter of James and Malissa, Nancy Elizabeth, or “Bess”, as she was affectionately called, inherited the family farm. She co-owned the farm with her brother, Robert Hugh, until his death in 1937. Nancy then sold half interest to two of her brothers, George Washington (Wash,) and George Henry. According to the family, “Nancy Elizabeth, was remembered as a “strong willed woman” and never married or had children, so the land passed to her brother’s heirs. Wash and his wife, Nola, had four children: Clara Veo, Ida Cleo, Herman Cecil and Howard Estel. During this generation’s ownership, the road from Monroe to Alpine was built though the farm. The house in which Wash and Nola lived was moved from the east side of the road to the west side. The family recalls that two children were born at each location.
Herman Cecil Young, grandson of the founders, served in the European theater during World War II. On returning home, he and his brother, Howard Estel, purchased 63 acres from their aunt, uncle, and father in 1946. Cecil and his wife, Esther, bought several buildings located in the flood plain created by the Dale Hollow Dam and used the materials to build their home. Many residents will remember that Cecil Young drove an Overton County school bus from the 1950s through the 1970s and farmed around his bus schedule.
In 2008, the great-grandson of the founders, James H. Young, became the owner of the property along with his wife, Brenda Carole McDonald Young. James is retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority and currently works at Oak Ridge at the Y-12 Security Complex. He is actively engaged in farm work and is a master beef producer with beef quality assurance certification. His son, Joshua Luther Young, is also involved in the farm’s operations and lives there with his wife, Karie Vettraino, and son, Christian James, the most recent member in the long line of the Young family to call the historic farm home.
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 Farm Program.
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its website at www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP directly 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.