Story by Emily Robertson
At Dr. TJ and Georgia Blevins’ farm in Warren County, you can tell they have several passions that keep them busy. From the paintings of beautiful horses that don their walls, to pictures covering the sofa table of their large, loving family to the low hum of the new Blevins Farm subdivision construction past their farm on land they sold to Jagoe Homes, the Blevins stay busy and focused on the future, despite their retirement from a professional dental practice two years ago. Now, with more time to pursue their interests and business possibilities, the Blevins are ready to see what the future brings both for their family, and the south central Kentucky area as a whole.
The couple married shortly after they graduated high school, moving to Nashville for TJ to attend Vanderbilt and after his undergraduate graduation, relocated to Lexington to attend University of Kentucky for dental school. It was there that his interest in real estate and development first began.
“In Lexington, my father bought us a house in the Garden Springs subdivision,” Dr. Blevins says. “The neighborhood was full of nice, three-bedroom brick homes, with sidewalks and that was new back in those days. If you go back to that neighborhood today, it still looks great and still is a wonderful neighborhood and back then I remember thinking how cool it was to have a community like that.”
That experience sparked a lifelong passion for Dr. Blevins of buying and selling properties and also helping to build subdivisions in the Bowling Green area. The family currently owns four farms in four separate counties, but their farm in Warren County is their most recent development project that is coming to fruition. After selling the majority of their land to Jagoe Homes, work began on the Blevins Farm subdivision, which will contain more than 120 single-family homes.
“One thing I liked about Jagoe Homes is that they build energy efficient homes,” TJ says. “There’s nothing that will cause problems for homeowners quite like a big electric or gas bill each month. They really work to make sure that is not an issue in their houses and they truly make beautiful homes. It’s going to be such a great neighborhood.”
The new subdivision land used to house the Blevins’ horses, which is another passion for the couple. Each road in the subdivision is named after a horse that has special meaning to the family.
“I was a horse person since high school and Georgia’s grandfather was a blacksmith,” TJ says. “I’ve always loved show horses and when Georgia and our daughter were showing horses, it just developed from there. We used to train horses here at night after we would get home from work, but we no longer keep any racing horses here at the farm. They all work with top trainers in other areas.”
Georgia participates in Roadster Pony, a style of showing where the rider is behind the horse on a sulky, which is a lightweight cart with two wheels. TJ and Georgia enjoy traveling from April to November each year across North America to compete and Georgia currently holds the title of World’s Grand Champion in the event. The couple also loves to attend horseracing events and several years ago felt the nudge to get into the world of thoroughbred racing.
“I told Georgia that I thought we were supposed to have thoroughbreds and she thought I was crazy,” TJ says. “Well, Churchill Downs called us and said they were starting a racing club and asked if we’d be interested. They were going to have a hall of famer trainer to train the horse, so we joined. We got to go there and see the horse come out of the starting gate the first time and we’ve been to Belmont to see him race. In Kentucky you are in the center of the greatest horses. It’s such a thrill to be a part of it.”
The Blevins are transparent though, even with the great success in their careers, their hobbies and business ventures, they’ve also experienced great tragedy that they wouldn’t wish on any family. The couple recently lost their oldest daughter, Jill Hanes, to COVID-19 last September, and just a few months later, lost her son, their grandson, Josh to the same disease. Jill and her husband, along with their grown children, had been working to build homes together on a farm nearby, and for TJ and Georgia, the loss of a future with their daughter and grandson is extremely painful.
“You always hear the highlights from people, but something like this is devastating and the grief hurts so much,” TJ says. The Blevins also have two additional adult children, Chris Blevins and Mia Morris, in whom they are profoundly proud of, along with five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. It is their family, along with their deep faith in God, that continues to help them move forward.
“Losing people you love, that’s real life,” TJ says. “We are Christians, so we know that there are things that will happen to your family. But if they have faith in Christ we will see them again, so that’s what we hold onto. There’s a factor in grief of love. And it’s different than any other kind of love.”
Despite what they have faced in the recent months, the Blevins try to live out a saying that is hung in their kitchen that says “Cherish yesterday, Dream Tomorrow, Live Today.” They are grateful for everything they have experienced so far in life and look forward to the opportunity to be a part of growth and change for the local community.
“We grew horses back here on this land and now we are growing families,” TJ says. I think that is a good transition. The people are eagerly coming to our community, so we want to give them a safe, beautiful place to live and make memories together.”