Nashville: Artisans from the Crossroads of the South

See the Decorative Arts Trust Bulletin post about this program.

Read the Magazine of the Decorative Arts Trust article about this program.

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Wednesday, April 17, 8:45 am to Thursday, April 18, 4:00 pm

Along the Cumberland: Houses of Sumner and Davidson Counties

Independent scholar and seventh-generation Middle-Tennessean Tracey Parks guides us on a day of visits to splendid sites in Sumner County. Rock Castle, begun in 1784, boasts extraordinary craftsmanship, including original paneled walls. Located in the city of Gallatin, Rose Mont is an outstanding Greek Revival house built for one of the region’s most prominent citizens, Judge Josephus Conn Guild, an influential politician, jurist, and state legislator. The house was situated on the Guild family’s 500-acre plantation where he raised thoroughbreds and held festive horseracing events. Successive generations preserved the original architectural ornamentation and materials, including Greek Revival mantels and Sheffield plate keyhole escutcheons. We continue to Cragfont in Castalian Springs, a grand Georgian home built on the Tennessee frontier for Revolutionary War General James Winchester in 1802. Winchester outfitted his home with “turkey carpets” and furniture made by his skilled nephew, William Winchester, Jr., who trained in Baltimore and whose work still remains in the house. Following lunch, we take in Wynnewood, the largest standing log structure in Tennessee. The c. 1830 main house functioned as a resort and as a stagecoach rest stop and was the operational center of the Wynne family farm for over 140 years. Hawthorn Hill is a Neoclassical brick house built by 1806. Colonel Humphrey Bate purchased the property in 1817, and it stayed in his family for over a century. Rarely open to the public, the unfinished house stands as a time capsule of aspirational interior decoration on the early-19th-century frontier. Remnants of the original stenciling and decorative paint- work remain on the first floor, and Neoclassical mantels reveal the Bates’ determination for sophisticated elegance. Following our journey outside of Nashville, we return to the Holston House Hotel for a relaxing evening in the Music City. 

Thursday’s itinerary brings us south of Nashville to take in two important homes. Belle Meade began as a simple but elegant two-story brick home surrounded by 250 acres and grew into a grand mansion and one of the largest thoroughbred horse farms in the South with over 5,400 acres. The original Neoclassical house was built for John Harding and later enlarged and stuccoed over by his son, William G. Harding, to transform it into a Greek Revival house with the addition of a two-story veranda featuring six solid limestone pillars quarried nearby. A 14-foot-high central hall runs the full length of the house, and the walls display thoroughbred horse paintings by 19th-century artists, including Edward Troye. Our tours of the property are followed by lunch and a tasting of the estate’s wines. We then progress to Cheekwood, the 1929 family home of Mabel and Leslie Cheek, Sr. After an investment in a relative’s coffee company paid off with a sale to Postum Cereal Company (later General Foods), the Cheeks built their country estate in a wood- land area south of the city. New York architect and landscape designer Bryant Fleming planned the house and gardens and traveled with him to England seeking inspiration from country estates and the acquisition of architectural elements for their Nashville home. Today, Cheekwood boasts an extensive art collection, including the third-largest assemblage of Worcester porcelain in the US, sculptures by William Edmonson, and an impressive selection of American paintings. 

Sunday, April 21, 11:15 am–7:15 pm 

Franklin: History on the Harpeth 

We depart for Franklin, TN, acclaimed as one of the prettiest and friendliest cities in the South. A downtown architectural walking tour with historian Rick Warwick reveals the history of Franklin’s preservation efforts focused on the handsome buildings along Main Street. The city played an outsized role during the Civil War, and the 1864 Battle of Franklin was one of the bloodiest conflicts, with more than 300 wounded Confederate soldiers taking refuge at nearby Carnton, the c. 1826 McGavock family home and farm. The house retains many of its original 1840s upgrades, including faux-painting, wallpaper, carved mantels, and furnishings. The Carter House was designed and built under the supervision of Fountain Branch Carter in 1830. This late Neoclassical house was occupied successively by three generations of his family. In spite of heavy damage caused by Civil War rifle and cannon fire, the farm office and brick smokehouse remain extant. The house retains many of its original decorative elements, including wallpaper, faux-graining, and marbling. Our time in Franklin concludes with a congenial reception hosted by devoted preservationists and Trust members Kay and Rod Heller at Windermere, their 1880s home adjacent to Carnton.