THE TENNESSEE CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM BEGAN PRESERVING FARMS In 1975, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture created the Tennessee Century Farms program, which beginning in 1985 has been administered by the Center for Historic Preservation. To qualify for the program, a farm must have been in the same family continuously for at least 100 years. Many Century Farms are listed in the NRHP. To date, nearly 2,300 farms have been certified, including 44 in Williamson County.41 THE TENNESSEE WARS COMMISSION CHARGED AHEAD Tennessee Wars Commission was established in 1994 with a mission to preserve and interpret Tennessee’s military heritage. They began work on coordinating planning efforts, the preservation and promotion of structures, buildings, sites, and battlefields in Tennessee, as well as acquiring and providing funds for the acquisition of battlefields, cemeteries, Underground Railroad sites, and other properties associated with wars that impacted Tennessee. 41 Jones and Brackett 2019:35; MTSU “Tennessee Century Farms” 2025; West 2018a. The Preservation Movement Takes Form in Franklin It was during this period, as national and state resources and institutions were being established, that some of Franklin’s most significant sites were recognized and saved. The preservation story of each of these places is multi-layered, often the result of collective action over years. But the growth of organizational capacity in Franklin, and the individual “saves” of many historic resources in the city, had their origins in this forty-year span. In 1967, the newly-formed Heritage Foundation, began to play a pivotal role in the city. FORT GRANGER WAS SAVED One of the first landscape saves occurred in 1971 when the City purchased Fort Granger (NHL 1960) for use as a 14.5-acre city park. A key military Federal fortification during the Battle of Franklin, for decades Fort Granger had stood abandoned on a bluff overlooking the Harpeth River. THE CITY UNDERTOOK ITS FIRST HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY In 1976, the city undertook its first historic resource survey, a project of the THC and the Heritage Foundation. This effort was expanded when some of the rural sections of Franklin were surveyed in 1982 as part of a countywide historic resource survey. Later, in 1999, the City updated the surveys. As a result of these surveys, the boundaries for the Franklin Historic District were expanded and several other properties were listed on the National Register.42 42 Means 2001:5–6. 73
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