By Marlee Jackson

The Maples family of Elkmont may claim certain kin are history buffs, but many in their herd have a knack for remembering relatives’ monikers, memories and Maples Stock Farm lore.

“You have John, Malcolm Gilchrist, William David, William E., Mack, Billy, Tommy and Ben,” said Tommy’s wife, Melanie. “Our grandson, Graham, is the ninth generation.”

In addition to their sprawling family tree, there’s farm history a-plenty, thanks to Maples Stock Farm’s 208-year presence in the crook of the Elk River.

“I guess we’re just blessed by being up here out of the way,” Tommy joked, referencing the farm’s location in the hills of north Alabama. “We’re in a little corner.”

The family’s especially extensive tenure tending the land is unusual in Alabama agriculture, said Tommy. His ancestor, John Maples, was deeded acreage from the U.S. government Feb. 11, 1818, more than a year before Alabama joined the Union.

That makes Maples Stock Farm an Alabama Bicentennial Farm — a special designation from the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries (ADAI).

It’s one of just 13, said program coordinator Amy Belcher.

“The Bicentennial Farm program was established for family farms like Maples Stock Farm — farms that have stood the test of time for over 200 years,” said Belcher, who also coordinates the Century & Heritage Farm Program. “The steadfastness and love of the land demonstrated by these families is the heritage of our nation and the State of Alabama.”

The Maples family applied when the program was introduced to commemorate Alabama’s bicentennial in 2019. Bicentennial Farms have been in the same family at least 200 years, are 40-plus acres and have current farm activities. Applicants must reside in Alabama.

Tommy said completing the form was a breeze thanks to his mother’s meticulous genealogical records.

“My mother, Nancy Jo, had it all written down — every generation, every date of birth, everything the state needed,” Tommy said. “All I had to do was fill in the blanks.”

The application captured Maples Stock Farm in its current iteration while chronicling the farm’s ebb and flow.

Its original settlers were traders, surveyors and farmers — English descendants who journeyed south from Virginia and nearby Tennessee, landing in the Elk River bottom.

Subsequent generations included a cadre of medical doctors, more farmers and jacks of all trades. A wooden structure still on the farm at one time boasted business as a general store, doctor’s office, blacksmith shop and grist mill. It now bears a red-white-and-blue Bicentennial Farm sign, presented by ADAI.

An even more prominent logo — that for Certified Angus Beef — is painted on the family’s iconic red barn tucked just below Tommy and Melanie’s 1911 farmhouse. Since 1937, the farm has been home to registered Angus cattle, an investment that began with the farm’s fifth generation and Tommy’s grandfather, Mack.

“Early in the last century, our family sold genetics for species across the gamut — sheep, dairy, beef, goats, pigs, mules, you name it,” said Ben, Tommy’s oldest son and the farm’s eighth-generation steward. “That’s why we are a stock farm instead of just a farm.”

The farm has evolved over the years, weathering economic storms, incorporating innovations in agriculture and flexing to fit what works for their family.

Today, that looks like experimenting with quality cattle genetics, renting out layer hen houses and leasing land to row croppers. The family has been honored for their work nationally from organizations such as the American Angus Association and Beef Improvement Federation.

They’ve achieved state honors, too, with Mack and Billy earning spots in the Alabama Agriculture Hall of Honor. Maples men are generational leaders in the Alabama Farmers Federation, with Billy, Tommy and Ben having chaired the State Young Farmers Committee.

Encouraging leadership is just one way each generation prepares the next to take the reins, Tommy said.

“When we came home to the farm, Bill gave us the checkbook,” Tommy remembered. “He said, ‘I think y’all can handle it better than I can.’”

Melanie, a retired accountant, added, “I keep trying to hand it to Ben. He keeps handing it back!”

The tight bonds of family are evident in the Maples clan. They’re playful, prayerful people who know good stock and are good stock — qualities fortified by adversity and with enduring faith.

“Bill talks about how difficult it was in the ‘60s and ‘70s,” Melanie said. “You had high interest rates and the Jimmy Carter years. He talks about the year the crops didn’t make, the year they couldn’t sell cattle. To hold it together through all that is incredible.”