[388] Weakley County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

For Release: April 12, 2012
Contact: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

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

Mansfield Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO— The Mansfield Farm, located in Weakley 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 the fall of 1910, William Emerson Mansfield purchased 26 acres of farm land in Weakley County. Here, he and his wife, Alice Bowlin Mansfield, raised their children: Althal, who died at age nine; Adriane, Coytez, and William Harrell. Cattle, sheep, and hogs were grown along with corn, tobacco and strawberries. By 1917, the Mansfield Farm was successful enough that William purchased an additional 41 acres.
After William and Alice Mansfield’s deaths, the farm was transferred to the three surviving children. In 1989, Coytez Mansfield and his wife, Lucille, purchased all of William Harrell’s land and all but 10 acres of Adriane’s portion. Coytez and Lucille had two children – Garry Lain and Robert Wade Mansfield – and used the farm for pasture land and to grow corn and beans.
In 2003, Coytez and Lucille sold 7.3 acres to their granddaughter, Denver Ann, and in 2012 they sold her an additional 18.7 acres. Denver and her husband, Josh Melton, live on the farm with their two children, Creed and Colt. They manage their family’s historic farm with Denver’s father, Wade Mansfield. Wade oversees the crop rotation where he grows corn and beans while the Meltons work with the pasture and horses. With the addition of the Mansfield Farm, Weakley County has 25 certified Century Farms.
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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