The packed dining room of the Silver Coast Winery was steeped with nostalgia and old-fashioned American pride on Friday afternoon, March 15. Martha Warner, the area Agriculture Extension Agent, organized the special event, in collaboration with the Department of Agriculture, to honor the Century Farms in Brunswick County. Before her efforts, the area had five Century Farm Families on the rolls. Friday, 32 new members were added to this exclusive group, in large part due to Warner’s efforts.
A Century Farm is one that has been in the family for 100 or more years. Brunswick County holds the dubious distinction of leading the state in lost farms two years in a row – a fact that makes this group of 37 families ever more important. Of an estimated 48,000 farms in North Carolina, only 1,600 are recognized as Century Farms.
State Representative Dewey Hill, one of the speakers at the event, reminded everyone that preservation of our farms is a necessity. He fears that losing our local farms will make us dependent on foreign growers for our most basic of necessities. He equated loss of farms and farm land to the dependency we are now facing for foreign oil.
Other speakers included Brunswick County Commissioner Bill Sue, N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler and Al Hight, County Extension Director. Each extended their respect and support for these Century Farm families.
One of the newly recognized Century Farms is in the Leland Area, on Goodman road off of US 17, south of Brunswick Forest (see photo). The Shelton Herb Farm, as is now known, has seen its land used in many ways during its 200-year history. Margaret Shelton and her husband Chuck are the current caretakers of their family homestead. When Mrs. Shelton’s Great-Great-Grandmother was deeded the land in 1867, it was used for timber, naval stores and the refining of turpentine. She can still find the old tar kiln mounds around the property that were the tools of the trade at the time.
Mrs. Shelton proudly spoke of her family and the long leaf pine that was once so prevalent in the area. The trees were well suited for ship masts and the processing of tar for sealing the wooded ships, which earned the state the nickname of being the “Tar heels”. This trade went on at the farm into the early 1900’s. She remembered that much of the area that is now Waterford, Magnolia Greens and Brunswick Forest, was owned by International Paper for the farming of tree products.
The old Goodman farm, as the Shelton farm was once known, also housed one of the most important men of the area, the country doctor – Dr. E. G. Goodman. In the photos of the Shelton farm you will see a small building to the right of the main house. This was used for the doctor’s office for many years.
One of the fears the Shelton’s have for the area is the I-140 bypass. While her farm may be spared, her cousins that still live on property near-by will, in Margaret’s words, “be wiped out.” She sees the area as one of the most beautiful in southeastern North Carolina would like to see more effort to preserve it.
With the support of so many in attendance, she may get her wish.
Click here for photos from the event.
