The Homestead was built in 1820 by Nehemiah Wood with an
addition completed in 1822 by his son, Harrison. The Wood family,
a pioneer family of Gallia County, arrived in 1805.The Homestead
remained in the Wood family for over 100 years. The two-story
Federal style building is constructed of bricks made on site by
freed slaves who accompanied Nehemiah Wood from Virginia. The
lane just below the house was a stagecoach route that ran
between Chillicothe and Gallipolis. In the mid-180Os the Homestead
served as an inn and stagecoach stop. The Wood family sold the
farm to Rio Grande College in 1938 which used the land for
college gardening and farming programs.
Bob and Jewell Evans purchased the farm in 1953 so their children
could grow up in the country. They hosted restaurant owners and
grocery meat department managers, showing them that Bob Evans
Farms Sausage really did come from "a farmer, down on the farm."
With a country kitchen and beautiful farm landscape, the Homestead
provided an ideal setting for television commercials, which Bob
Evans Farms started producing in the 1950s. The Bob Evans Farm
Festival began in 1971 and with a steadily increasing number of
visitors, Bob and Jewell built a new home closer to Gallipolis. Bob
Evans Farms acquired the farm from Bob in 1973 and maintains it as
a working
farm and local historical center. The Homestead was listed
on the National Register of Historic Places on December 14, 1987.
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