Oscar Blevins Farm
The Oscar Blevins Farm is a cultural landscape in the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. It is one of four historic homesteads in the national park that remain intact, along with the John Litton Farm, the Lora Blevins Farm, and Charit Creek Lodge.
The farm is named for the man who last lived there before the federal government purchased the property.
Description
The Oscar Blevins Farm, as preserved by the National Park Service, is a 24-acre landscape consisting of fields and pasture surrounded by split rail fences; a cabin; a large barn; an outbuilding; a corn crib; and a more modern wood frame house.
The farm is located off West Bandy Road, north of Bandy Creek Campground. It is accessible by vehicle via West Bandy Road, and also by foot via the 3.5-mile Oscar Blevins Farm Loop hiking trail that begins and ends at Bandy Creek Trailhead.
History
The Oscar Blevins Farm dates back to 1879, when the original cabin was built by John “Jack” Blevins. It is a story-and-a-half, double-pen log home with a large stone fireplace on one end.
An outbuilding and corn crib were built soon thereafter.
The farm was established along the main road from Leatherwood Ford to White Pine, before it was replaced by what is now S.R. 297 that connects Oneida to Jamestown. The original road trace remains, and a portion of it is used as a hiking trail and mountain bike trail. The road runs along the headwaters of Bandy Creek, from which the area draws its name.
In the 1950s, Oscar Blevins added a wood frame house and outbuilding at the farm. The original log home was used as a barn, and a wood addition was built onto its south side.
The large, two-story frame barn on the farm was built in the 1960s.
In the 1970s, Oscar Blevins began constructing a root cellar. However, he stopped when he learned that the federal government would be purchasing his land for the national park. The partial root cellar can be seen just south of the farm on the old road trace.
The federal government purchased the farm in 1980, and Oscar Blevins and his family moved from the property.
People of the Oscar Blevins Farm
John Blevins (1885-1971) was a great-grandson of Jonathan Blevins (1779-1863), sometimes said to be the first settler of the Station Camp area of what is now the Big South Fork National River & Recreation Area. His parents were Jacob Blevins (1857-1935) and Viannah West (1863-1945), who owned the farm known as Jake’s Place near Charit Creek Lodge. His grandfather was Jacob Blevins (1811-1868), the first person buried at Katy Blevins Cemetery at Bandy Creek. The cemetery was named for his grandmother, Catharine “Katie” Smith Blevins.
John Blevins married Louisa Slaven, who was a great-granddaughter of the Big South Fork’s other original white settler, Richard Harve Slaven. They had three children: Oscar, Charles and Bertha. John Blevins moved from the farm and settled in Winfield. He died in 1971 and is buried at the Katy Blevins Cemetery.
Oscar Blevins (1915-1988) was John and Louisa Blevins’ oldest son. He married Martha Ermon Smith in 1939. Their first child died in infancy in 1941 and is buried at Katy Blevins Cemetery, along with his parents. A second son, Lawrence, was born in 1951 and married Nathan Kay Massengill. He lives in Allardt, Tenn.
Following their eviction from their home on the farm near Bandy Creek, Oscar and Martha Blevins moved to Jamestown, Tenn. He died in 1988, and she died in 1994. Both are buried at Katy Blevins Cemetery.