This is the home built by my grandparents, Claude and Mary Shew Williams. After my grandmother died, my father Marvin Williams purchased the farm. Later, my brother Scotty Williams purchased the farm. Eventually the house was moved up the hill at a location to the left bottom corner at a location out of sight in this photo. A new home was built in its location about year 2000. The barn in the center of the picture, the crib and tool shed on the far side of the barn, the car shed across the drive from the crib, and the grainary by the garden, were all built by my grandfather. They have been removed.

Margie thank you for all the history about this photo. We love to see generational homes like this. What type of farm was this? Is it still active today? If you know the current address for this photo, I would be happy to update the location on the map!

Nathan Lewis: The current address for this residence is 400 Old Homestead Road, Wilkesboro, NC 28697. This house was built in the 1930's. My grandparents, like most families in the community, grew just about everything that they consumed on the farm. They had hogs and cattle and raised chickens for the market. The pond was built in the 1950's when there was a dry time and they needed to insure there was a water supply for their animals. They grew corn which was used for the family as well as the animals. They also grew hay for cattle. One of my favorite stories told by my father who was the oldest of five children, is of the year when he was a preteen and my grandfather was sentenced to a year in federal prison in Chillcothe, Ohio, after being caught "working on the branch." He left my grandmother and the five children with a $20 bill. When he returned after that year sentence, she still had the same $20 bill. That year, which was likely depression era, preceded the time period that they raised chickens for the market as that became a money crop for many in the county about the time of WWII.

My father also had crops and cattle on the property and my brother Scotty and his sons now run the farm. In the past, he had a breeder pig operation and marketed piglets in the newer metal building at the top left of this photo. Now that building is used for machinery maintenance. They currently have a herd of beef cattle and most of the fields are in pasture.