Lora Blevins Farmstead Cultural Landscape

Buildings at the edge of the front field at Lora Blevins Farmstead landscape.

NPS

Landscape History

In 1927, Lora and Tealie Ann Blevins purchased 45 acres of rolling tableland in Tennessee. The Blevins had both grown up in the bottomland communities of the Big South Fork basin and they adapted their environmental and cultural knowledge to the uplands, establishing a small family farm on a plateau of rolling hills. Lora, Tealie, and their six children worked and lived off the land in a manner that reflected the cultural traditions of the region.

The region’s first European settlers and their descendants initially farmed the limited arable land along the stream drainages that fed into the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River. As these bottomland communities outgrew their physiographic limitations, beginning around the turn of the twentieth century, settlers began to move into the surrounding upland plateau. Even though they established the farm relatively late in terms of regional settlement, the Blevins Farmstead landscape reflects conditions typical to bottomland farms that developed during the early- to mid-1800s.

The Blevins family in the front yard. Unknown date, though likely taken around 1940. Note the swept yard, perimeter yard fence, large trees, and clear vista towards the east.

NPS

The largest walnut tree on the property, standing beside the Blevins House.

NPS

Their self-sufficient farm operation was not an anomaly, as a majority of farms located near the Big South Fork functioned in a similarly self-sufficient manner. The farm’s layout and operation reflected cultural traditions of the Upper Cumberland Plateau region, including vernacular construction techniques, farming and gardening methods, and folk medicine practices. The family, at least initially, used mules instead of tractors for tilling the fields; hand-hewn timbers instead of dimensional lumber for constructing farm buildings; and a spring rather than a well for water. Residents of this rugged, rocky region raised their own livestock, grew crops, and made various food and fiber goods from farm-derived products.

In addition to farming, Lora served as a minister and preached at various local churches. Tealie possessed knowledge and abilities across the domestic sphere— raising children, cooking, folk medicine, gardening, making farm products from raw materials—which was essential to the farmstead. Their self-sufficient farm operation was also part of an interconnected community. As the initial farm families in the region expanded in size and number, they formed tight-knit communities in the bottomland areas and developed distinct cultural traditions over time.

Following World War II, many residents of the basin left to find work in new industries, specifically the manufacturing facilities developing in nearby cities. By the 1970s however, coal mining and manufacturing, returned to the Big South Fork region. This resulted in a slight increase in regional population, but the number of people engaged in agriculture for their livelihood declined significantly. Additionally, following post-war trends, a rise in tourism activity in the Big South Fork area foreshadowed the more substantial changes to come in the region after the 1970s.

The Blevins family continued to live and work on the farm until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired the property in 1980 as part of the creation of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Three of the remaining buildings at the Lora Blevins Farmstead—the log house, barn, and corn crib—reflect the construction techniques of Appalachian settlers during the 1800s, although the family constructed them nearly three decades into the next century. A number of historical landscape features still exist at the Lora Blevins Farmstead site, including fields, fruit and nut trees, hedgerows, road traces, fences, foundations, an animal pen, and a cemetery.

The Katie Blevins Cemetery was established in 1868.

NPS

Cultural Landscape Significance

The Lora Blevins Farmstead is part of the proposed Big South Fork Rural Historic District. The historic district is significant at the state level for its association with the early settlement, agriculture and rural community life, and economy of the Upper Cumberland region in Tennessee. It is also an important example of vernacular folk architecture once typical of the region, as well as for its potential to yield information important to understanding the historic human occupation of the area.

The diverse resources of the district are united historically and physically by their association with farming activity and rural life in the Upper Cumberland from 1821-1950. The district’s discontinuous pattern of historic rural landscapes separated by portions of undeveloped land illustrates the intimate relationship that existed between the family farmers of the Upper Cumberland and the rugged terrain on which they lived.

The 2019 Cultural Landscape Report provides site history of the Lora Blevins Farmstead, documentation of the existing conditions of natural and cultural features, analysis of integrity, and treatment recommendations for ongoing management of the historic vernacular landscape.

Landscape Site Plans

Left image
1951 Period Plan
Credit: NPS

Right image
Existing Conditions in May 2019
Credit: NPS

For a detailed look at these images and other site plans, see the Lora Blevins Farmstead Cultural Landscape Report. Note how encroaching vegetation has overtaken portions of the open fields and the orchard north of the house.

Quick Facts

• Cultural Landscape Type: Vernacular
• National Register Significance Level: State
• National Register Significance Criteria: A,C,D
• Period of Significance: 1929-1974

Landscape Links

• Cultural Landscape Inventory park report
• Lora Blevins Farmstead Cultural Landscape Report
• More about NPS Cultural Landscapes