Color Wheel Farm

The quilt pattern was chosen based on the the Oregon Border Dispute, taking place around the 1820's. The family wanted to tie it in to a significant event in US history.

In 1820, Thomas and Jane Young White established the farm on 160 acres located near Vonore. The Whites, together with their nine children, raised corn, wheat, oats, cattle, sheep and swine. Over the years, land was added, and in 1876, Ewing Young White inherited a portion of the farm. Near the turn o f the century, his son Tom acquired 450 acres of his family land. Ewing's daughter, Jennie Moser, inherited the farm from her brother Tom in 1955. Married to R.J. Moser, Jennie had three daughters. One of her daughters, Betty Black, and her husband Earl (Red) Black, acquired the original homestead in 1957. The blacks have since acquired about 400 acres of additional farmland. The original nineteenth century home was renovated by Earl and Betty in 1957. There is also a nineteenth century smokehouse that was restored in 2006. The farm is designated a "Tennessee Century Farm" and currently the oldest family farm in Monroe County. Color Wheel Farm is a seven-generation farm and is currently owned by Brad Black and his sister, Jenny. Brad, along with his wife, Kim, work the farm full time. Crops include corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, hay and switchgrass. There is also a cow/calf herd. The name "Color Wheel" came from Betty Black. She said the farm was first owned by the White family, now the Blacks, thus it has come all the way around the color wheel. In 2011 the farm was placed under a conservation easement with Foothills Land Conservancy to protect it from the encroaching city limits and development. The barn where the quilt hangs was erected in the early 1900s as a tobacco barn and used for tobacco until 2006.