Robert Wilson has an article in today's Knoxville News Sentinel with more about Laverne Farmer's conservation gift:

Her family has owned the ground near Bethel Baptist Church in Townsend since the state of Tennessee was 28 years old. They got it in a land grant in 1824.

There's some interesting background and history of Lavern Farmer, her family and the land, once known as the "Vale of Tuckaleechee Cove."