On September 10, 1884, Nathaniel Henderson Parrish registered a land deed at Macon County courthouse for a 52-acre farm, located on Highway 28 about two miles north of Franklin. Purchased from William E. McDowell at a cost of $600, the property included a two-story , oak-hewn log structure, already rumored to be 75 to 100 years old. He and his wife, the former Sarah Jane Vanhook enclosed the log structure with weatherboarding and added rooms to make a large, two-story house.
In 1894 after grandma Parrish died, grandpa Parrish deeded the farm to his three daughters—Julia Emmaline Parrish, Pallie P. West and Carrie P. Lyle. My mother, Julia, was given a portion of property on which the house was located. On March 6, 1895, she married Jubal Early Calloway. They bought Aunt Carrie Lyle’s share in 1896 and Aunt Pallie West’s in 1898, thereby owning, living on, and farming the entire tract. They had 10 children, all born in the original enclosed part of the log house, and although three died in infancy, seven were reared on this homeplace.
For that day and age my father, “Jube” Calloway, ran an up-to-date, self-sufficient farm, including blacksmith shop, smokehouse, grainery, huge log barn, garage, spring house, bee hives, chicken house, hog pen, Concord grape vines and pastureland. He had the latest equipment: threshing machine, wheat drill, corn planter, evaporator (for making molasses), cider mill, hay rake, grindstone, forge, bellows and various tools. For transportation, there was a horse or mule-drawn wagon, a surrey and a buggy.
In 1915 papa bought a piano for $325 and two years later a Model T Ford for $399.25. Over the years many modern conveniences were added to the house and the farm. When he died on October 21, 1948, at age 81, farming ceased except for the vegetable garden, which my mother continued to tend. Mama was a thrifty, conservative homemaker, who made virtually all of our clothes on her white treadle sewing machine. She quilted, hooked rugs, crocheted, knitted, tatted, spun, cooked, kept boarders and read daily The Asheville Citizen and the Bible. She died on August 26, 1963, at age 88.
In 1971 the old home was torn down and replaced by a one and one-half story brick house on the same site. Wishing to save the logs from the original structure, I had a log cabin built nearby, into which I put several pieces of old furniture and household items to preserve the family heritage. Although the barn, shop and smokehouse were torn down, the rest of the old buidings have been maintained.
On July 9, 1988, my brother, Henderson, age 86, died of cancer, leaving me at age 82 the sole survivor of the immediate family. Our sister Isabel (age 7) died of measles on February 14, 1924; brother Van (21) was killed in a car wreck in New York in 1931; Virginia, Wade, and Janet died in 1961 1967, and 1977, respectively.
I still own and live on the original farm. This property has been willed to my three children: Julia Moody Britt of Charlotte; Marjorie Moody Menefee of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and Charles Truman Moody Jr. of Los Angeles, California, in the hopes that they will continue to preserve the homestead.
--Submitted by Lily Calloway Moody Cabe
Other Macon County Century Farms with stories in the N.C. Department of Agriculture’s North Carolina Century Farms book include:
The Bradley Farm, submitted by Bonnie Higdon Bradley
The Bryson Farm, submitted by Mattie Pearl Bryson McGaha
The Crawford Farm, submitted by Eugene Crawford and Elmer Crawford
The Enloe Farm , submitted by Roberta Enloe Parker
The Gibson Farm, submitted by Cecile Gibson
The Leatherman Farm, submitted by Annie Dee Leatherman Smith
The May Farm, submitted by Jeff W. May
The Nolen Farm, submitted by Charles W. Nolen
The Patton Farm, submitted by Nancy Patton Greenwood and Erwin Patton
The Raby Farm, submitted by Evelyn M. Raby, Gwendolyn Sue Raby Mansini, Barbara Jean Raby Nelson, and John Fredrick Raby III
The Shepherd Farm, submitted by Betty B. Womack
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In 1988, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture published a commemorative book, North Carolina Century Farms: 100 Years of Continuous Agricultural Heritage. This book provided a history of century farms in North Carolina.
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