Beech Grove (Nashville, Tennessee)
Beech Grove is a historic mansion in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Built as a log house circa 1850, it was a Southern plantation with African slaves in the Antebellum era. In the 1910s, it became a livestock farm.
Beech Grove | |
 Beech Grove | |
   | |
| Location | 8423 Old Harding Pike, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36.0233°N 87.0229°W |
| Area | 12 acres (4.9 ha) |
| Built | c. 1850 |
| Built by | Thomas Jones and Caleb Lucas |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival |
| MPS | Historic Family Farms in Middle Tennessee MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 07001163[1] |
| Added to NRHP | November 8, 2007 |
Location
The property is located at 8423 Old Harding Pike in Nashville, the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee.[2][3]
History
The land belonged to Elisha Sherrill until 1801, when Hugh Allison acquired 200 acres.[3] Allison, who served on the Davidson County Court, owned ten African slaves.[3] He lived on the farm with his wife, Lydia Harrison Allison, and their five children.[3] When he died in 1835, one of his sons, Thomas Jefferson Allison, inherited the farm.[3] He acquired more land, expanding to 1,150 acres.[3] Additionally, he owned 22 African slaves by 1840 and 53 slaves by 1860.[3] As a result, the farm became a Southern plantation.[3] Allison lived on the plantation with his wife Tabitha and their six children.[3]
The two-storey log house was built for the Allison family by Thomas Jones and Caleb Lucas,[2] two carpenters, circa 1850.[3] It was designed in the Greek Revival architecture.[3]
During the Civil War, half the slaves ran away via the railroad.[3] After the war, the remaining 20 former slaves, now freedmen, worked on the property as tenant farmers.[3] Meanwhile, Allison and his wife continued to live in the house until he died in 1897 and she died in 1910.[3]
Subsequently, the property was inherited by Allison's granddaughter, Allie Morton and her husband, Sam.[3] They turned it into a livestock farm.[3] In the 1920s, they redesigned the house in the Colonial Revival architectural style.[3] The Mortons sold the house in 1975.[3] It was later purchased by the Kacki family in 1993.[3]
Architectural significance
It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since November 8, 2007.[2]
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- "Beech Grove". National Park Service. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
- "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Beech Grove". National Park Service. Retrieved September 24, 2015.