Lone Oaks Farm is a 1200 acre farm located North of Middleton in West Tennessee near Memphis and Jackson. The working farm has transformed into a world-class venue for education, business retreats, special events, and family travel. Image Credit: Google Maps & El Dorado

Aerial View Encompassing 1,200 acres with a diverse mixture of pasture, woodlands, trails and sixteen lakes, Lone Oaks Farm epitomizes Tennessee’s natural beauty. This destination is not only a showplace, but a working cattle farm – a place where hay and livestock are produced and, fruit, vegetable and row crops are grown in an experiential educational setting. Image Credit: Google Maps

A desire to maintain the working farm and its structures led to the development of a master plan accounting for the adaptive re-use of structures, maintaining land for the working farm, and providing new structures for additional purposes. This master plan is currently being utilized in the first phase of development at the farm where three new-build projects have been completed and additional projects are in design. Image Credit: Nelson Byrd Woltz

The Lone Oaks Farm Master Plan resulted from a deeply collaborative planning process that integrated and knit together UT Extension, UT’s College of Architecture and Design, UT’s Institute of Agriculture, architects, landscape architects, ecologists, and agriculture professionals. Image Credit: Google Maps & El Dorado

The master plan is set up as a tri-partite plan creating three zones of programming: hospitality, agriculture, and education. Each of these areas has existing landscapes and structures that run together and work with each other to create the ecosystem of the master plan. Image Credit: Google Maps & El Dorado

The first of multiple phases of design and construction at Lone Oaks Farm, the Hunters’ Education Center and Shooting Range brings the ethos and goals outlined in a previous master plan by this same design team into reality. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

As directed in the master plan, the Hunters’ Education Center takes cues from existing agrarian structures on the property, while adopting updated performance standards to provide a contemporary, durable facility. Image Credit: Mike Sinclair

The building consists of approximately 6,800 square feet of meeting rooms, classroom, catering kitchen, and pro-shop, sited to leverage the ecology and beauty of this portion of the farm. Image Credit: Mike Sinclair

The sporting games include trap, skeet, and a clays course integrated into the landscape. The result is a high-end experience for area youth, 4-H campers, amateur, and competitive shooters. Image Credit: Mike Sinclair

The STEM Center continues the farm’s design philosophy with a simple kit of parts, agrarian influences, and outdoor circulation, offering a high-end educational experience for area youth and 4-H campers. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

A core goal of Lone Oaks Farm is education. The campus features a dedicated STEM center and learning facility situated within a working agricultural landscape. This provides unparalleled opportunities for hands-on learning, fostering an appreciation for natural and agricultural lands among Tennessee’s youth. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

Adjacent to gardens, meadows, orchards, and wetlands, the facility includes flexible classrooms that open to the outdoors for hands-on agricultural learning, covering aquaponics, livestock, plants, crops, and labs. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

The STEM Center features a kitchen and cafeteria for food service and culinary education. The design facilitates immersive, hands-on learning experiences both indoors and outdoors. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

The center provides a crucial resource for educators and demonstrates that STEM careers extend beyond cubicles and lab coats, emphasizing the importance of STEM in public lands, healthy habitats, and progressive agriculture. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

The Sunset Cabins, the first cluster of master-planned cabins, kickstarted the youth education program. Each bunkhouse accommodates 16 campers and two counselors, featuring an overlook deck, flex room, kitchenette, flex bedroom, and accessible restroom. The flex bedroom is crucial for welcoming campers needing special accommodations or for use by an additional counselor or seasonal staff. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

Functional outdoor spaces, both covered and open, provide ample areas for outdoor learning and gathering. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

Clad in durable corrugated metal panels, locally-sourced tongue and groove cypress, and vibrant colors for wayfinding and cohort identity, the cabins are grounded on the high side of the site, maintaining a single elevation throughout, and extending over the hillside to individual porches with expansive views. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

Each season, campers will stay in one of three ecologically specific Cabin Groups—Sunset, Meadow, and Lake. The cabins are sited to offer campers intense learning opportunities immersed in the various ecosystems they address. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

Spaces are designed to allow visitors to be both viewing the landscape and in the landscape. Image Credit: Timothy Hursley

This cabin cluster, designed with a focus on the meadow ecology, sits on the boundary between the meadow and the upland forest. By positioning the buildings along the natural contours of the land, the cabins sit lightly on the landscape, providing a unique lens from which to experience this dynamic ecological transition. Image Credit: El Dorado

The prototypical plan developed for the Sunset Cabins was refined to enhance operational efficiency, increase camper comfort, and place the flex room at the heart of cabin life. Image Credit: El Dorado

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee proposed $28 million in funding to construct the Tennessee Water Education and Training Center at UTIA’s Lone Oaks Farm. The WET Center consists of indoor classrooms and an outdoor laboratory featuring a system of tanks and flumes to simulate stormwater events. Image Credit: El Dorado

The first of its kind WET center will provide opportunities for hands-on training programs in hydraulics, hydrology, erosion, and flood management. The West Tennessee River Basin Authority, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture are partners in this effort. Image Credit: El Dorado