Earnest Farms Historic District
Encyclopedia
The Earnest Farms Historic District is a historic district
consisting of four historic farms and associated structures near the community of Chuckey
in Greene County, Tennessee, USA. The farms include the Elmwood Farm, the Broyles Farm, the Crum Farm, and the Jim Earnest Farm, all of which were initially developed by early pioneer Henry Earnest (1732–1809) and his descendants in the late-18th and 19th centuries. The district includes the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which is home to the oldest Methodist congregation in Tennessee, and the Earnest Fort House, which is one of the oldest houses in the state. Elmwood Farm has been designated a century farm
and is one of the oldest farms in Tennessee, having been cultivated continuously since 1777.
Henry Earnest settled along the banks of the Nolichucky River
in 1774 and built the Earnest Fort House on a bluff overlooking the river in 1782. Earnest donated the land for the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which was completed in 1795 and ordained that same year by Bishop Francis Asbury
. When Earnest died in 1809, his land was divided up among his children, with his son Peter receiving what is now the Elmwood Farm and son Henry Earnest, Jr. receiving what is now the Broyles Farm. Throughout the 19th century, the Earnests operated their farms as small business enterprises, selling much of their produce for profits. In the early 20th century, the Broyles family purchased the Henry Earnest, Jr. Farm and in subsequent years converted it into a dairy farming operation. The historic district contains 43 contributing structures or sites.
bends in a half-rectangle around the Earnest Farms Historic District, forming its eastern, northern, and western boundaries, the exception being the Earnest Fort House, which lies immediately north of the river. The Crum Farm is the easternmost farm in the district, with the Nolichucky running along its eastern and northern boundaries. The Broyles Farm is immediately west of the Crum Farm, and Elmwood Farm is immediately west of the Broyles Farm. The Jim Earnest Farm is immediately southwest of Elmwood, with the river flowing along the western boundary of the Elmwood and Jim Earnest farms. The southern boundaries of all four farms collectively provide the district's southern boundary.
Tennessee State Route 351 (known locally as Rheatown Road) traverses Elmwood Farm north-to-south, connecting the area with the Chuckey community across the river to the north and the Cherokee National Forest
to the south. Along the south boundary of the Elmwood Farm, TN-351 gradually ascends to the top of a 100 feet (30.5 m) hill, from which there is a dramatic view of the Bald Mountains
spanning the horizon to the south. Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park
, the traditional birthplace of frontiersman Davy Crockett
, lies along the east bank of the Nolichucky opposite the Crum Farm.
Henry Earnest was born Heinrich Ernst in Dattlikon, Switzerland in 1732, and immigrated with his parents to Virginia in the 1740s. After serving with the Virginia militia in the French and Indian War
, he married Mary Stephens, the daughter of his benefactor, in the 1760s, and migrated southwestward. By 1774, he had arrived in what is now Greene County. The Earnests supported the Patriot cause during the American Revolution
, and Earnest's son, Felix, fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain
in 1780. The Earnests also played a role in the creation of Greene County in 1783, and Henry Earnest served as the county's first tax assessor.
Earnest built the Earnest Fort House in 1782, and developed the adjacent land into a profitable farm. He began work on the Henry and Peter Earnest House (across the river from the fort house) around 1800. Upon his death in 1809, his farm was divided up among his children, with his son Peter (1777–1862) inheriting what is now Elmwood, his son Henry, Jr. (1772–1851) inheriting what is now the Broyles Farm, and his son Felix (1762–1842) inheriting what is now the Jim Earnest Farm. Peter renovated and expanded the house his father had built, and Henry Earnest, Jr. built a similarly-designed house (now the Earnest-Broyles House) during the same period.
Peter, Henry, Jr., and their brother Jacob were all listed as merchants throughout the first half of the 19th-century, and their names consistently appear in the ledgers of a general store
in Leesburg, (near Jonesborough
). Felix Earnest was a minister and leader in the Methodist Church, having been ordained a deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1806 and elevated to Elder by Joshua Soule
in 1825. Henry Earnest, Jr. represented Greene County in the state senate 1811–1813, and became a charter board member of Tusculum College
upon its founding in 1818. When the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad completed tracks through Chuckey in the 1850s, Peter Earnest established a toll bridge
to connect the Earnest farms to the railroad.
While the Earnests were slave owners, two members of the Earnest family, listed as "B Earnest" and "N Earnest," were part of the Greene County delegation to the East Tennessee Union Convention
at Greeneville on the eve of the Civil War
in June 1861. The Earnest farms survived the war mostly intact, although the local economy was in ruins. The toll bridge was replaced in 1869, and again in 1903. In the 1940s, the Broyles family (who had purchased the Henry Earnest, Jr. properties) established a large dairy complex on the Broyles farm, mainly to take advantage of a Pet Milk
condensing plant that had been established in Greeneville, although the dairy operation ultimately failed. Today, tobacco
is the chief crop of the Elmwood, Broyles, and Crum farms.
Francis Asbury delivered a sermon before 200 people at "Squire Earnest's" in 1793, and mentioned that a society of 31 members had been formed. The Earnests eventually donated a parcel of land (between the river and the Jim Earnest Farm) for the construction of a meeting house. On April 27, 1795, Asbury dedicated the new meeting house, marking the beginning of the Ebenezer Methodist Church. The current Ebenezer Methodist Church building, built on the site of the 1795 meeting house, was completed in 1899.
The church is a one-story framed structure, with a metal gabled roof. The exterior walls were originally weatherboarded, but this has been replaced with vinyl siding. The building has a gabled, metal roof and a concrete block foundation. The church's louvered bell tower is two stories, and contains a bell purchased from the Cincinnati Bell Foundry. The interior includes the original wooden siding, hand-painted doors and pews, and a stained glass window. The church's cemetery, which also listed as a contributing property in the historic district, contains the burials of several Earnests and other families associated with church, and at least two slave burials (known only as "Zona" and "Corby").
The Crum Farm is a tobacco farm developed in the 1920s. The Crum Farm's eight contributing structures include:
Historic district (United States)
In the United States, a historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated by one of several entities on different levels as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects and sites within a historic district are normally divided...
consisting of four historic farms and associated structures near the community of Chuckey
Chuckey, Tennessee
Chuckey is an unincorporated community in Greene County, Tennessee. It is located on the Nolichucky River, from which its name is derived. The community is the site of a post office and is assigned zip code 37641....
in Greene County, Tennessee, USA. The farms include the Elmwood Farm, the Broyles Farm, the Crum Farm, and the Jim Earnest Farm, all of which were initially developed by early pioneer Henry Earnest (1732–1809) and his descendants in the late-18th and 19th centuries. The district includes the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which is home to the oldest Methodist congregation in Tennessee, and the Earnest Fort House, which is one of the oldest houses in the state. Elmwood Farm has been designated a century farm
Century Farm
A Century Farm or Centennial Farm is a farm or ranch in the United States or Canada that has been officially recognized by a regional program documenting the farm has been continuously owned by a single family for 100 years or more...
and is one of the oldest farms in Tennessee, having been cultivated continuously since 1777.
Henry Earnest settled along the banks of the Nolichucky River
Nolichucky River
The Nolichucky River is a major stream draining the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. The river is long.-Hydrography:...
in 1774 and built the Earnest Fort House on a bluff overlooking the river in 1782. Earnest donated the land for the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which was completed in 1795 and ordained that same year by Bishop Francis Asbury
Francis Asbury
Bishop Francis Asbury was one of the first two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, now The United Methodist Church in the United States...
. When Earnest died in 1809, his land was divided up among his children, with his son Peter receiving what is now the Elmwood Farm and son Henry Earnest, Jr. receiving what is now the Broyles Farm. Throughout the 19th century, the Earnests operated their farms as small business enterprises, selling much of their produce for profits. In the early 20th century, the Broyles family purchased the Henry Earnest, Jr. Farm and in subsequent years converted it into a dairy farming operation. The historic district contains 43 contributing structures or sites.
Geographic layout
The Nolichucky RiverNolichucky River
The Nolichucky River is a major stream draining the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and east Tennessee. The river is long.-Hydrography:...
bends in a half-rectangle around the Earnest Farms Historic District, forming its eastern, northern, and western boundaries, the exception being the Earnest Fort House, which lies immediately north of the river. The Crum Farm is the easternmost farm in the district, with the Nolichucky running along its eastern and northern boundaries. The Broyles Farm is immediately west of the Crum Farm, and Elmwood Farm is immediately west of the Broyles Farm. The Jim Earnest Farm is immediately southwest of Elmwood, with the river flowing along the western boundary of the Elmwood and Jim Earnest farms. The southern boundaries of all four farms collectively provide the district's southern boundary.
Tennessee State Route 351 (known locally as Rheatown Road) traverses Elmwood Farm north-to-south, connecting the area with the Chuckey community across the river to the north and the Cherokee National Forest
Cherokee National Forest
The Cherokee National Forest is a large National Forest created on July 19, 1936, by U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, operated by the U.S. Forest Service and encompassing some 640,000 acres .-Location:...
to the south. Along the south boundary of the Elmwood Farm, TN-351 gradually ascends to the top of a 100 feet (30.5 m) hill, from which there is a dramatic view of the Bald Mountains
Bald Mountains
The Bald Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains...
spanning the horizon to the south. Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park
Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park
Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park is a state park in Greene County, Tennessee. Situated along the Nolichucky River, the park consists of centered around the traditional birthplace of legendary Tennessee frontiersman, soldier, and politician Davy Crockett...
, the traditional birthplace of frontiersman Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
, lies along the east bank of the Nolichucky opposite the Crum Farm.
History
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
, he married Mary Stephens, the daughter of his benefactor, in the 1760s, and migrated southwestward. By 1774, he had arrived in what is now Greene County. The Earnests supported the Patriot cause during the American Revolution
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
, and Earnest's son, Felix, fought at the Battle of Kings Mountain
Battle of Kings Mountain
The Battle of Kings Mountain was a decisive battle between the Patriot and Loyalist militias in the Southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War...
in 1780. The Earnests also played a role in the creation of Greene County in 1783, and Henry Earnest served as the county's first tax assessor.
Earnest built the Earnest Fort House in 1782, and developed the adjacent land into a profitable farm. He began work on the Henry and Peter Earnest House (across the river from the fort house) around 1800. Upon his death in 1809, his farm was divided up among his children, with his son Peter (1777–1862) inheriting what is now Elmwood, his son Henry, Jr. (1772–1851) inheriting what is now the Broyles Farm, and his son Felix (1762–1842) inheriting what is now the Jim Earnest Farm. Peter renovated and expanded the house his father had built, and Henry Earnest, Jr. built a similarly-designed house (now the Earnest-Broyles House) during the same period.
Peter, Henry, Jr., and their brother Jacob were all listed as merchants throughout the first half of the 19th-century, and their names consistently appear in the ledgers of a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
in Leesburg, (near Jonesborough
Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 4,168 at the 2000 census...
). Felix Earnest was a minister and leader in the Methodist Church, having been ordained a deacon by Bishop Francis Asbury in 1806 and elevated to Elder by Joshua Soule
Joshua Soule
Joshua Soule was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church , and then of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.-Birth and rebirth:...
in 1825. Henry Earnest, Jr. represented Greene County in the state senate 1811–1813, and became a charter board member of Tusculum College
Tusculum College
Tusculum College is a coeducational private college affiliated with the Presbyterian Church , with its main campus in Tusculum, Tennessee, United States, a suburb of Greeneville...
upon its founding in 1818. When the East Tennessee and Georgia Railroad completed tracks through Chuckey in the 1850s, Peter Earnest established a toll bridge
Toll bridge
A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...
to connect the Earnest farms to the railroad.
While the Earnests were slave owners, two members of the Earnest family, listed as "B Earnest" and "N Earnest," were part of the Greene County delegation to the East Tennessee Union Convention
East Tennessee Convention of 1861
The East Tennessee Convention consisted of a series of meetings held in 1861 on the eve of the American Civil War in which 29 counties in East Tennessee and one county in Middle Tennessee denounced secessionist activities within the state of Tennessee and resolved to break away and form an...
at Greeneville on the eve of the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in June 1861. The Earnest farms survived the war mostly intact, although the local economy was in ruins. The toll bridge was replaced in 1869, and again in 1903. In the 1940s, the Broyles family (who had purchased the Henry Earnest, Jr. properties) established a large dairy complex on the Broyles farm, mainly to take advantage of a Pet Milk
Pet, Inc.
Pet, Inc., was an American company that was the first to commercially produce evaporated milk as a shelf-stable consumer product and later became a multi-brand food products conglomerate. Its signature product, PET Evaporated Milk, is now a product of The J.M. Smucker Co...
condensing plant that had been established in Greeneville, although the dairy operation ultimately failed. Today, tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
is the chief crop of the Elmwood, Broyles, and Crum farms.
Ebenezer Methodist Church
Sometime in the early 1790s, the Earnests and several other area families formed a Methodist society. Methodist circuit riderCircuit rider (Religious)
Circuit rider is a popular term referring to clergy in the earliest years of the United States who were assigned to travel around specific geographic territories to minister to settlers and organize congregations...
Francis Asbury delivered a sermon before 200 people at "Squire Earnest's" in 1793, and mentioned that a society of 31 members had been formed. The Earnests eventually donated a parcel of land (between the river and the Jim Earnest Farm) for the construction of a meeting house. On April 27, 1795, Asbury dedicated the new meeting house, marking the beginning of the Ebenezer Methodist Church. The current Ebenezer Methodist Church building, built on the site of the 1795 meeting house, was completed in 1899.
The church is a one-story framed structure, with a metal gabled roof. The exterior walls were originally weatherboarded, but this has been replaced with vinyl siding. The building has a gabled, metal roof and a concrete block foundation. The church's louvered bell tower is two stories, and contains a bell purchased from the Cincinnati Bell Foundry. The interior includes the original wooden siding, hand-painted doors and pews, and a stained glass window. The church's cemetery, which also listed as a contributing property in the historic district, contains the burials of several Earnests and other families associated with church, and at least two slave burials (known only as "Zona" and "Corby").
Elmwood Farm
What is now the Elmwood Farm was part of the land inherited by Peter Earnest from his father, Henry, in 1809. Upon Peter Earnest's death in 1862, the farm passed to his son, Benjamin, and upon Benjamin's death in 1887, it passed to Benjamin's son Nicholas Earnest. Nicholas Earnest managed Elmwood until his death in 1956, when it was divided among his six children. His daughter, Katherine Earnest Clemmer, then purchased her siblings' share of the farm. Elmwood is the only farm in the district that remains in the hands of Earnest descendants, and in 2002 was designated a Tennessee Century Farm. It is the second-oldest farm in the state, behind only the Masengill Farm in Sullivan County. The farm's eleven contributing structures include:- The Earnest Fort House, also called the Mauris-Earnest Fort House, a three-story structure completed in 1782 or 1783. The first-story walls were built out of limestoneLimestoneLimestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
blocks, and the second and third stories were built using logs connected with "V" notches. This building was originally added to the National Register of Historic Places in a separate listing in 1978.
- The Henry and Peter Earnest House, a two-story brick Federal-style I-house begun in the early 19th century (or possibly earlier) and expanded over subsequent decades. Henry Earnest built the rear wing of the house around 1800, and Peter Earnest added the Federal-styleFederal architectureFederal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the United States between c. 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815. This style shares its name with its era, the Federal Period. The name Federal style is also used in association with furniture design...
front facade in 1820, creating the I-house formation, and added a smokehouseSmokehouseA smokehouse is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke. The finished product might be stored in the building, sometimes for a year or more.-History:...
and slave quarters to the rear. An open-air porch was added to the east side of the rear wing in the 1850s, and a Colonial Revival-styleColonial Revival architectureThe Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
portico was added to the west side in the 1920s.
- The Earnest Bridge Substructure, a stone bridge abutment rising out of the middle of the river immediately west of the modern TN-351 bridge. The abutment was built in 1903 using stones from 1869 Earnest toll bridge.
- A two-story brick smokehouse, located just west of the Henry and Peter Earnest House, built around 1820 for use as a smokehouse, but later used for milk storage when dairy operations were established at the farm. The smokehouse has a cantilevered shed roof.
Broyles Farm
The Broyles Farm was originally part of the land inherited by Henry Earnest, Jr. from his father in 1809. The Broyles family purchased the farm in 1903. The farm's eighteen contributing structures include:- The Earnest-Broyles House, a two-story brick Federal-style I-house originally built by Henry Earnest, Jr. in 1820. The house has a Colonial RevivalColonial Revival architectureThe Colonial Revival was a nationalistic architectural style, garden design, and interior design movement in the United States which sought to revive elements of Georgian architecture, part of a broader Colonial Revival Movement in the arts. In the early 1890s Americans began to value their own...
-influenced portico and a Federal-influence interior.
- A two-story frame tobacco barn, built around 1940.
- A board-and-battenBattenA batten is a thin strip of solid material, typically made from wood, plastic or metal. Battens are used in building construction and various other fields as both structural and purely cosmetic elements...
stock/tobacco barn, built around 1920. The barn was originally built to house livestock, but is now used for tobacco.
- Three concrete siloSiloA silo is a structure for storing bulk materials.Silo may also refer to:* Silo , a 3D modeling software* Silo , a defunct chain of retail electronics stores* SILO , used in Linux...
s, one built in the 1940s, and two (side-by-side) built in the 1950s. The older silo no longer has its dome roof, while the two newer silos have dome metal roofs.
- A two-story concrete structure originally used as a milk house for the farm's dairy operations, but later used as a tenant house.
Crum Farm
- The Crum Bungalow, a 1.5-story house built around 1920. The house has a metal roof and brick foundation.
- A board-and-batten chicken coopChicken coopA chicken coop is a building where female chickens are kept. Inside there are often nest boxes for egg laying and perches on which the birds can sleep, although coops for meat birds seldom have either of these features....
, built around 1930. This building design may have been influenced by designs provided by the University of Tennessee in the 1920s.
- A board-and-batten wood shop, built around 1920.
Jim Earnest Farmstead
The Jim Earnest Farmstead is part of the land inherited by Felix Earnest from his father, Henry Earnest, in 1809. After Felix Earnest's death in 1841, the farm passed to his two sons, James Oliphant Earnest and William McKendrie Earnest. The latter's son, Jim Harvey Earnest, inherited the farm in 1902, and managed it until the 1930s. The farmstead has four contributing structures:- The Jim Earnest House, a three-story Folk VictorianVictorian architectureThe term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
style house built around 1880. A central projecting bay on the front facade resembles ItalianateItalianate architectureThe Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
tower designs. The house has weatherboard siding and an asphalt shingle roof.
- A one-story board-and-batten tobacco barn, built circa 1920.
- A one-story tenant house, built circa 1900, with a metal roof added in the 1920s.
- A board-and-batten storage shed, built around 1920.