Farmhouse Community Center

 

The Stafford-Linville Tenant House is a historic Craftsman-style dwelling featuring a front gable, a wooden porch supported by columns resting on square stone piers, and a stone foundation with twin chimneys serving two original fireplaces. The house is located at 8300 Linville Road. Constructed in 1931, this one-story frame house was built on farmland that was purchased in 1908 by local farmer David B. Stafford, and for years served as tenant housing for families tending crops on the farm. In 1970, the house was sold to R.N. "Buster" and Edna Linville who used it as a rental residence. In 2006, the Linville family sold the house and the adjoining 58 acres to the Town of Oak Ridge for the creation of Oak Ridge Town Park, with the stipulation that longtime residents Chester and Linda Redmon be allowed to remain in the home for the rest of their lives.The Redmons were the last in a long line of farm families who tended the farm for the Stafford and Linville families, and as a result, many people refer to the house as the Redmon House. The house was included in the Oak Ridge Historic District in 1994 and is recognized as architecturally significant within the context of Oak Ridge’s rural farming community. In early 2023, the Oak Ridge Town Council voted to renovate the structure and repurpose it as a meeting and event space. It was named the Farmhouse Community Center and it opened to the public in 2025. 

Today, the Farmhouse serves as a welcoming gateway to the park offering a charming setting for events and meetings. Oak Ridge senior residents may enjoy free rentals for up to two hours, Mondays through Wednesdays, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made here.

Photo and historical credit to Sandra Brown Smith