This 18,540-acre plantation is a part of the Agricultural Experiment Station program, although the university does not own it. The property was purchased at various times between 1903 and 1937 by Hobart Ames of North Easton, Massachusetts, whose main interests were those of a sportsman. He emphasized the importance of providing a favorable environment for quail production and the raising and training of bird dogs. In 1915 the National Field Trials were moved to the Ames Plantation.
Ames died in 1945, with his wife inheriting the plantation. She died in 1950, and her will provided for establishment of the Hobart Ames Foundation, to own all assets, real and personal, and to control funds of the foundation. The facilities of the plantation and funds of the foundation were made available to UT’s Institute of Agriculture for scientific and educational purposes. In 1953 a long-range plan was adopted, which focuses on model farms and includes beef cattle and forestry research. Forestry (planting of loblolly pines and other species on several thousand acres of eroded cotton fields) was begun in 1954. A demonstration farm was established in 1955. Also in 1955, the “central unit” consisting of three thousand acres supporting the Purebred Aberdeen Angus Cattle program, one hundred acres of cotton, four hundred acres of corn, and a herd of brood sows were established. A final project, one of farm management, conducted with tenants, was also established. The name of the installation was changed to Research and Education Center at Ames Plantation in 2005.