Seabiscuit, Smarty Jones, Secretariat, Funny Cide… these are only some of the names of the great thoroughbreds that have made their name in history and their proud lineage can be traced where else but in Nashville, Tennessee.
History
The 5,300-acre plantation, started out when Virginia native John Harding, purchased Dunham’s Station log cabin and 250-acres of land on the Natchez Trace in 1807. He began boarding horses for neighbors and began breeding thoroughbreds in 1816. Racing had become a popular sport in Nashville, then, and Harding made a living by allowing his neighbors to keep their horses in his farm. He named his land Belle Meade or Beautiful Meadow and it was definitely a fertile and beautiful land, which made it perfect for grazing.
Belle Mead Mansion was constructed in 1853 by General William Giles Harding (son of John Harding). They extended the plantation into a 5, 400-acre plantation and expanded the house to accommodate William’s growing family.
Tennessee’s rich history is often rich with stories of the Civil War and just like all the beautiful houses in Tennessee, the Belle Mead Plantation also experienced the darkness of the Civil War.
It served as the headquarters of Confederate General James R. Chalmers of Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry command. The front yard of the plantation serves as a silent witness to the skirmishes between Confederate and Union forces during the battle of Nashville. The bullet marks on the Mansion’s stone columns serve as silent proof to what the plantation has been through during those dark times.
Belle Meade’s popularity peaked in 1880 when General William Hicks Jackson, husband of Selene Harding (daughter of General William Giles Harding) purchased a stallion named Iroquois in 1886. Iroquois was the first American thoroughbred to win the English Derby and his presence on the plantation paved the way to making it known as a world-class thoroughbred farm.
After the war, Belle Mead Plantation was passed over to William Jackson, William Harding’s son in law, whose watchful eye groomed it to become internationally renowned as a champion thoroughbred farm and showplace.
When it was auctioned in 1904, Belle Mead had become the oldest and largest thoroughbred farm in the nation. It remained a private residence until 1953 (a decade after it was built), when the mansion was built, the property (the mansion and eight outbuildings on 30 acres of land) were entrusted to the Association of Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities.
Belle Meade today
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places and featured on the Ante-bellum, Belle Mead Mansion is open to the public in the form of a museum. It features an art gallery, a guided tour of the estate and interesting activities such as period dances and demonstrations of 19th century blacksmithing.
Belle Mead Museum also offers a tour, with a tour guide decked in the period’s costumes, which features the highlights of the mansion: Durham Station Log Cabin, the 1853 Antebellum Mansion, 7 historic buildings and Carriage House and Stables which holds a decorative antique carriage collection.
