KNOB VIEW FARM

The quilt square displayed on the barn at Knob View Farm actually contains two patterns: “Star of LeMoyne” set inside “Swallows in the Window.”  Star of Lemoyne was named after the founder of New Orleans, Jean Baptiste le Moyne.   Thru mispronunciation, in some areas Star of LeMoyne evolved into “Lemon Star.”  The Swallows in the Window pattern is self explanatory—it looks like birds on all sides of a square—and certainly appropriate for barn display—what barn doesn’t have swallows?  This pattern was copied from a quilt made on the farm by Barbara Ann Thomas and her daughter-in-law, Pearl Thomas, before 1950.  

 Isaac Lafayette Thomas met Barbara Ann Swadley when he came from Damascus, Virginia to work as a hired hand and was sent to the Henry Swadley homestead.    They fell in love and were married in 1889.  The land first acquired by the family in 1848 was passed down to Isaac and Barbara.  Although Barbara wanted to build a house, Isaac told her “We need to build a barn.  The barn is where our living comes from.”  She relented and the barn was completed in 1898—its design considered by many a masterpiece in construction.  The “new house” was built in 1915.    Isaac and Barbara had two sons, Henry and John.  Henry pursued a college education and became the first county agent of Greene County, TN, and later began a long career with Ford Tractors.  John studied Industrial Arts at what is now ETSU, but remained on the farm which has now been in the family for 150 years.  The current owner, granddaughter of Barbara and Isaac and last of the Thomas generation, Marcella Thomas Epperson, fondly remembers the farm in its heyday, comparing it to “Old MacDonald’s farm” as animals abounded; horses, mules, chickens, hogs, dairy cattle, and guineas. 

The Thomas Farm has been designated a 'Century Farm' by the
Center for Historic Preservation
Middle Tennessee State University Box 80, Murfreesboro, TN 37132