The Homestead

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.