Woodley Farm was situated upon the grounds
where the University of Tennessee at Martin currently resides. Prior to the purchase
of the property by the State of Tennessee in 1928, the land had been used as farmland
since mid 1880's. The land was originally owned by James Evans Freeman, a Weakley
County politician, tax collector and sheriff, and his wife, Elizabeth Rast Freeman.
The Freeman's, with their five children, relocated to Woodley Farm in 1885 in
an effort to be closer to the burgeoning new railroad hub at Martin. The family
built a spacious thirteen room colonial house that consisted of several wings
and porches. Close to a dozen farm buildings were also scattered about the property,
which included a fourteen stall barn, hen house, smoke house and various other
storage structures. The name "Woodley Farm" was initially given by Elizabeth
Freeman for the property's large and numerous hickory, oak, poplar and elm trees.
Throughout the rest of the 19th century to the late 1910's, the farm served as a productive working farm and as a popular gathering place for family, friends and visitors to Northwest Tennessee. After the death of Elizabeth Freeman in 1915 the farm rapidly went into decline. By the 1920's, the farm had fallen into disrepair and its earlier days of prosperty had become only memories. The farm struggled on until July of 1928, when one of the surviving sons, Otis Freeman, sold ninety-eight acres of the farm to the University of Tennessee for $18,000. This property would eventually become the center of the University of Tennessee at Martin campus.