Family Conserves 100 acres on Bear Creek and Duck River Corridor

Special land in Maury County now protected forever

Mrs. Ora Thompson is steadfast in her love for her farm on the Duck River at the confluence of Bear Creek. She and her husband, Joe, found this place in the 1950s and made it their home. "Not great farmland, many people told us," notes Mrs. Thompson, "but we knew it was something special to us." Now on the edge of the growing city of Columbia, the family place is still being actively farmed by her son Frank and remains a place like no other for Mrs. Thompson. Mrs. Thompson fondly remembers the fun they had raising their children by the river.  It was always a great place to keep cool on those hot summer days. Annual family picnics are still held along the creek and the place is lit up with daffodils in the early spring. 

Conserving this farm means protecting an important part of the Duck River corridor. Just upstream from the farm is The Duck River Wildlife Management Area, and Columbia is taking steps to provide more river-oriented recreation. Along with pasture for their cattle, the Thompson landscape encompasses high bluffs and a long stretch of Bear Creek.   This river and creek corridor contains special botanical resources and natural views for boaters and fishermen enjoying the waterway.

Now in her 90's, Mrs. Thompson is proud of their stewardship of the land and looks forward to it being well cared for in the future. In conversations with her grandson John Alan, who will inherit the farm, Mrs. Thompson knows now that they have made the right decision by protecting the land with a permanent conservation easement donated to The Land Trust for Tennessee. They continue to own this farm, and when it is passed to their heirs or sold, it will remain a "place like no other" for Mrs. Thompson.