Everything about Belle Meade Plantation totally explained
Belle Meade Plantation, located in
Belle Meade, Tennessee, is an historic
plantation mansion and its grounds that today function as a museum.
In 1807,
Virginian John Harding bought Dunham's Station log cabin and 250 acres (1 km²) on the
Natchez Trace. In the early years, Harding boarded horses for neighbors such as
Andrew Jackson, and he was breeding thoroughbreds by 1816. He shipped grain to
Charleston and
New Orleans, and owned large tracts of land in
Arkansas and
Louisiana.
In 1853, the current mansion was built by General
William Giles Harding, son of the founder. During this time, the Harding family prospered, building their domain into a plantation that was renowned throughout the world for breeding champion
thoroughbred horses.
The
American Civil War brought deprivation and danger to Belle Meade. During the
Battle of Nashville,
Union and
Confederate forces skirmished in the front yard, and the mansion's massive stone columns were riddled with bullets. Evidence of the violence is still visible today.
During and after
Reconstruction, Belle Meade's reputation as a first-class breeding establishment attracted buyers from around the world for the annual yearling sales. Under the management of Hardin's sons-in-law, brothers
William Hicks Jackson and
Howell Edmunds Jackson, Belle Meade Stud flourished. Following the Jackson bothers' deaths, adverse financial conditions forced an auction of the property at the beginning of the 20th century and the fourth generation of the Harding family moved off property. The former plantation lands formed the independent city of
Belle Meade, Tennessee.
In 1953, Belle Meade Mansion and eight outbuildings on 30 acres were deeded to the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, and is today managed by the Nashville chapter of the Association.
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