The 128 acre Thompson farm in Millbridge is a story of a family coming together to “do the right thing.” Originally settled by Thomas Gillespie in 1787, the farm became part of the Owen-Harrison plantation in 1811. In 1920 Annie Harrison Sloan sold her 86 acre portion of the family inheritance to James Grady Thompson. The Thompson Farm was formed, and later expanded to 132 acres with land inherited by Grady and Tom Thompson from their parents. Betty Thompson’s efforts to hold the family land together during the Great Depression paid off by instilling in the family the importance of protecting the land. In the fall of 2013, more than nine members of the family banded together to preserve three individually held tracts for future generations to benefit from thanks to a conservation easement donation.

 In addition to the conservation easement the family is placing on the land, they have also placed a historic structures easement on the farmhouse. The Historic Architecture of Rowan County lists the farmhouse as the “Suther-Thompson” house, and dates the house as being from the third quarter of the 1800s. Family lore indicates the house was moved from a knoll about a mile north of the house’s current location in the 1920s. As the family came together to protect the house and land, they engaged professionals from the Historic Salisbury Foundation, Preservation North Carolina, and the State Historic Preservation Office. They agree that the house is most likely from the first half of the 1800s based on what appears to be original architectural fabrics. The area where the Thompson farm is located holds numerous other protected lands. Near the Kerr Mill at Sloan Park, the Thompson Farm becomes part of approximately 3000 contiguous acres of protected land, and more than 4000 acres within two miles of the sire. Truly the Thompson family has made a significant contribution towards keeping the West Rowan agricultural community viable for generations to come.