House at Broadview in 1932

My Grandfather “Tex” Tilson then the head football coach at W & L bought the first 426 Acres of Broadview Ranch in 1932 from Peoples National Bank. The bank had foreclosed on the farm several years before and during the time of bank ownership the farm had been poorly cared for. Much of the land was badly eroded from years of plow farming, and grown up in brush from years of neglect from the bank. People told my grandfather that some of the fields could never be recovered from the brush and brambles that covered them. Whoever those people were, they must not have known my Grandfather very well. Grandpop threw into the farm the same energy and enthusiasm that he used for leading W&L to Southern Conference Championships. He attacked the brush with a vengance and with little thought as to whether the large amounts of labor involved would be profitable in the short term. He introduced cattle grazing to the farm and hailing back to his childhood in Texas named the land Broadview Ranch rather than Broadview farm. Where crops were still raised he introduced contour plowing and strip cropping long before they were common practice in Rockbridge Conty.

If Grandpop instilled anything in his family it is a deep love for the land. When riding his horses over the land, which he did practically everyday of his life, he never failed to pause on a hilltop to take in the beautiful broad views and exclaim that the good Lord has blessed us with this farm. But greater than his love for the land was his love for his family. Much of the work ,planning and planting that my Grandfather did, especially later in his life, he knew that he would never see its end result. But he did it, he spent money on it, and he cared for it for the benefit of his children, grandchildren and yet unborn great grandchildren. Now Tex Tilson’s great great grandchildren are starting to arrive, the 5th generation of our family on Broadview to share the love of the land and the love of each other in this special place. Oh, there is one other thing Tex Tilson loved to do and that was to show people around the farm, come on out and we will be happy to show you around too.