About

Oak Hill was established in 1832 by Jack and Betty Smith Taylor. The Taylors located their dwelling near a large spring which supplied water for the entire plantation until the early 1900s, when the first successful well was completed. The farm’s first crops and products included corn, cotton, cattle, swine and horses.

Of the founders’ three children, Lucy Taylor Maclin acquired about 1,000 acres of the family landholdings in 1847. Lucy and her husband Dr. James B. Maclin transformed the farm into one of the region’s largest antebellum plantations, one that totaled 3,500 acres. The farm is still owned and operated by the Maclin family, now in the seventh generation at Oak Hill.

In the 1800s, Oak Hill Farm was also home to nearly 100 enslaved men, women, and children–many of whose descendants still live in the surrounding counties. Although we are not a museum, we are working to document those histories; if you are interested in finding out more or visiting for a tour, please contact us.

We focus on sustainable growing and the maintenance of biodiversity–through native plants, heritage breeds of livestock, heirloom vegetable varieties, and agro-ecology practices.

We are also a Tennessee Century Farm; see our page at the Tennessee Century Farm web site! As of 2013, Oak Hill Farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Land Acknowledgement

We recognize that we are on traditional lands of the Chickasaw nation. This farm (and all of Tennessee) was the traditional territory for many indigenous peoples prior to their forced removal, and we have a responsibility to acknowledge the peoples and histories of these lands. This map is a useful tool for identifying Native land in North America.  Our ability to exist here is the result of coercion, dispossession, and colonization. To ignore that is to perpetuate it. We respect the diverse communities that touch this land, including those who occupied this territory originally, those brought to it by force, and those who settled here in search of better circumstances. We understand that acknowledgement is only a gesture, but it represents the beginning of our commitment to reconciliation in the United States and our local communities.