Located in East Knox County and across the Holston River from Jefferson County, is a farm that’s been in Marjorie Beasley’s family for over 200 years. Named for the ten oak trees that surround the property’s spring, Ten Oaks Farm has stories to share.

The spring on the property has been a vital resource for both indigenous people and early settlers.  A neighbor told John, Marjorie’s husband, that he used to find arrowheads “by the bucket full” on the land. John researched the property, which was part of a Revolutionary War land grant. He also learned that during the Civil War, Confederate soldiers fled the Knoxville area and crossed the Holston River into what is now the Strawberry Plains area, burning the ferry and railroad bridge across the river to keep Union soldiers from following them. Union soldiers camped there to ensure Confederate soldiers never returned to Knoxville. The original homestead functioned as a Union Army hospital and became a caretaker’s home before falling into disrepair in the 1980s. But a 100-year-old barn still stands. Marjorie says, “You don’t see many barns still preserved that are that old.”

Nearby, a small tract of land juts out into the river and creates currents. As children, Marjorie and her friends called it “The Tow Head.” She later discovered on Google Maps that it’s called Cobb Shoals. Cobb is Marjorie’s maiden name.

She remembers helping with the chores that were a daily routine and requirement for the farm’s tobacco, corn, dairy, and beef cattle operations. Today, about half of Ten Oaks Farm is leased out for soybean, corn, and hay crops. The remainder of the property is mature hardwood forest and native grasslands, which provides a home for deer, turkey, possum, quail and rabbit.

For John personally, maintaining wildlife biodiversity and habitat are the reasons they placed a conservation easement on their property. “Without nature and biodiversity… after a while people lose their relationship to the land. You see everything growing up around you now…all that development means destruction of wildlife habitat. It is reassuring knowing that the property is protected from development long after we are gone.  The decisions we make will affect future generations. We must save sustainable habitats for all of God’s creatures before it is too late.”

The connection they found with Foothills Land Conservancy felt right. Marjorie says, “When we started working with Foothills it just felt comfortable to me. It was obvious that it was more than a job to them, that it was personal, and that they really cared. It felt like you were working with family, and it just felt like the right, natural fit for us.”

Marjorie went away to school and her father joked that she never moved back home. She thinks he would be very happy that she did move back, and has worked with Foothills to preserve the property.