The University of Tennessee at Martin has announced the bequest of a farm valued at $79.5 million from equestrian Melanie Smith Taylor and her family.

When Smith Taylor and her family pledged in June to transfer the Wildwood Farm in Germantown to the university after her death, the value of the farm was not yet known. Following an appraisal, which includes the property value and $3 million in new construction, the university announced that the gift is valued at more than $79.5 million, the largest ever to the University of Tennessee System. The commitment will enable UT Martin to increase educational program offerings in animal science and horsemanship, plant and soil science, environmental management, and natural resources management, with an initial focus on veterinary health technology. It also will provide opportunities for collaboration with the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture.

Once among the top American Saddlebred show stables in the country, the farm includes three hundred and fifty acres of mixed pasture and mature oak woodlots surrounded by dense residential development. The Big Barn was completed in 1935 and became a hub of equestrian history in the Mid-South. Smith Taylor, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, is one of only two riders to ever win the "triple crown of show jumping" — the American Invitational, the International Jumping Derby, and the American Gold Cup — and the only person to win all three on the same horse.

"Lee wanted to be sure the farm continued to be enjoyed by me and the Wildwood family for the duration of my lifetime," Smith Taylor said of her late husband. "But he also hoped it would be a gift that keeps on giving and growing through scholarship, horsemanship, and friendship to best promote this unparalleled natural resource by an equestrian and an agrarian focus....And, so for the Taylor family and all of us at Wildwood, we welcome UT Martin to our home and shared dreams."