History
To get the Scott Hill Farm in the Historic Farm Program would have been
about like registering a cow, only worse, so it never
got done! The farm did qualify by having more than 10 acres (212 acres),
and the income was a little over the minimum of
$1000. per year. I did find that Richard Stith and his brother William
came to this country in 1804 and picked this place to
build a house and barn and settle down. Richard got in touch with the
owner and bought 450 acres here in 1811. The farm
stayed in the Stith family until my dad, Walter L. Scott and his father
bought the farm from the Estate of Aunt Lucinda Stith in
1911 -- exactly 100 years later.
While the legal ownership of the farm in the Stith family was 100 years,
they started living here seven years earlier. While the
farm was still owned by Aunt Lucinda Stith until her death in 1909
and the Estate until 1911; Aunt Lucinda had moved to
Guston several years earlier to live with her sisters. Dad and Mom
had moved here in 1908 and I was born April 11 1909, one
week after Aunt Lucinda died. I was away from the farm about 25 years
going to school and in agricultural work in about 20
counties, but am finishing my 82nd year here this April 11, 1991.
William Stith and his wife Nancy and my great grandfather Jim Hardaway were buried in the graveyard on top of the hill.
The farm has no historic buildings on it. The log house that Richard
Stith built, burned in 1944 and the log barn was used for
firewood after my Dad built a new barn in 1917. The Tenant House that
Uncle Jesse Stith built in 1865 for his nephew was
torn down in 1975 for room for my daughter Ann's new house.
The new barn that my Dad built burned April 11, 1927 and was replaced
by the present barn. Dad went with John Burnet to
Fort Knox and bought a barn from the Reservation for $50.00. (John
knew his way around there from buying "war surplus"
clothing or anything he could sell at his store at the corner of #333
and #1600.) John Burnet took his one and a half ton truck
and about 5 or 6 neighbors took their teams and wagons and they took
the barn apart and hauled it down here and helped
rebuild it. With a new metal roof that cost about $50.00 the barn still
stands here. A few rafters did not stand the move and
were hurriedly replaced by some straight Sassafras poles from the woods.
The old barn has a few bullet scars from target
practice at Fort Knox but otherwise just an old barn. We added a Milk
Parlor on the west side, about 8 ft. of shed roof on the
North side, and about a 40 by 40 ft. feeding floor on the East side,
with the concrete floor extending on through the barn.
Uncle Jessie's combination corn-crib and granary, and the old meat-house
got gone while I was gone, I don't know what
happened to them. The crib and granary were each about 8 by 16 ft.
with a 10 ft. drive-way between them and all under the
one roof. You hung either the wagon grain-bed or the hay frame up over-head
when not in use. The floors of the crib and
granary were about 18 inches above the ground so rats could not dig
dirt up in them. The sides of the crib were of oak plank,
nailed on "up and down" and was well ventilated, while the granary
was double-boxed with 18 inch wide poplar plank so it
would hold wheat or other small grain.
Since we have been here (1948), we have built the house, the tobacco
barn (40 by 60 with a 16 ft. shed). a tool shed (24 by
72), and a metal crib (18 ft. diameter - 3000. bu.). We had a well
dug (172 ft.) and have a 1.5 hp. pump and unlimited water.
The pump, at present, has been in the well 35 years with no maintenance
and at one time was furnishing water for the Milk
Parlor, stock water, the house and two trailer houses. We have built
a concrete entrance to the spring and plan to finish the
project some day but that is just something that does not have to get
done!! We did get about a mile and a half of road made
through the woods that we are proud of. It gives access to the top
of the hill, our picnic area, plenty of firewood and the
graveyard.
This was Hardin county when Richard Stith came here in 1804 but this part of the county became Meade County in 1826.
Walter C. Scott
This is historic information that would soon be lost except for this,
and some day might be appreciated.