BUMC 

Brentwood United Methodist Church was founded in the 1850s at Wilson and Franklin Pikes. It was the first church in the Tennessee Conference to permit men and women to sit together during services which was avant garde in the 1860s. In the 1960s the church moved to its current location on Franklin Road.  

 

Carpenter’s Store  

Carpenter’s Store was located on the grounds of Forge Seat, a home built in 1808 by Samuel Crockett, son of Andrew. The home was named for the iron forge, indicating blacksmith work.

Major Andrew Crockett and his wife Sarah Elliott Crockett, Crockett’s son Samuel Crockett and his wife Jannah Sayers Crockett are buried in the Crockett Cemetery. Andrew Crockett III, son of James and grandson of Major Andrew Crockett, is also buried there. On his tombstone is the inscription, In memory of Andrew Crockett, Some of Samuel and Joannah Crockett, born in Wythe Cty Va Nov 13, 1793, moved to Williamson Cty Tenn 1799, died Sept. 12, 1852. He that believeth in me though he be dead yet shall he live S. John XI 25. Many other Crockett descendants are also buried in this Cemetery.  

The next owners were the Owens family. After the Owens bought Forge Seat, they started their own cemetery there. It is next to, but distinctly separate from the Crockett Cemetery. Buried in the Owen Cemetery are Jabez Owen and his wife Sarah Hall Owen, and several of their children, including Richard A. Owen, who was killed by his brother in 1852 when he was 35 years of age.  

The Andrew Crockett grant also included CROCKETT PARK, located on the west side of Wilson Pike.  

The store was later operated by William Liggett Carpenter and his wife Frances Morton Carpenter, who were married in Williamson County in 1875 and lived at Forge Seat by 1880. The community store served the grocery needs of the people in the neighborhood and was the local Post Office. Carpenter’s Store P.O. was considered part of the old Rural Free delivery system for the U.S. Post Office, and Mr. Carpenter served as the Postmaster. The mailing address for area residents was Carpenter’s Store, Tennessee. The Post Office opened July 17, 1890 and remained open until 1903 when mail service was moved to Franklin.  

Legend has it that Mr. Carpenter wore holes in the floor of the front porch of his store because when business was slow, he would sit for hours at a time reading with his chair leaning back against the wall. Scars on the floor may validate that legend. He and his family were active members of the Methodist Church in Brentwood.  

Country stores were gathering places for socializing, though sometimes the conversations turned violent. In the Wilson Pike area 13 murders occurred along a 13-mile stretch, including one that happened just across from the Carpenter Store.  

After the Carpenters, Forge Seat had a succession of owners, with the Gregorys being the longest. Tom Gregory, his wife Martha, and daughters, Evalina and Caroline, restored Forge Seat to its present state.  

Mrs. Martha Corwin Gregory was an English teacher and librarian at Nashville’s private girls’ school, Harpeth Hall (formerly Ward Belmont). She grew up on a plantation in South Alabama and was tutored at home for most of her early education. Later, she earned bachelor’s degrees in both arts and sciences from the University of Alabama, and a master’s degree from Peabody College. She did graduate work at the University of Chicago and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  

Before coming to Tennessee, she taught high school in Montgomery and Birmingham. In Nashville, she taught at Montgomery Bell Academy and Hillsboro High School before joining the faculty at Ward-Belmont, which closed and reopened as Harpeth Hall. While at Hillsboro, she wrote the words and music for the alma mater, and later wrote the alma mater for Harpeth Hall. Her favorite saying to her English class students was “To see what ordinary eyes don’t see.” 

 

Fewkes Group Archaeological Site 

Fewkes Group Archaeological Site, also known as the Boiling Springs Site, is a pre-American history Native American archaeological site located in the city of Brentwood. It is in Primm Historic Park on the grounds of Boiling Spring Academy, a historic schoolhouse established in 1830. The 15-acre site consists of the remains of a late Mississippian culture mound complex and village roughly dating to 1050-1475 AD. 

There are numerous accounts of trade with the Shawnee Indians during the late 1600s and early 1700s, especially by the French. One such French trader was Martin Chartier who lived with the Shawnee and traded with them in the late 1600s. By the mid 1700s, the Shawnee were gone from the Central Basin, having been driven out by neighboring Chickasaw and Cherokee. The expulsion of the Shawnee left the Middle Tennessee area a “no man’s land”, but a prize that the various tribes of Indians, namely the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Chickamauga, and Choctaw were willing to share for hunting and fishing purposes.    

The Mound Builders 

The Mound Builders lived in the Brentwood area in the Mississippian period, between 1000-1450. They were possibly descended from earlier Indian tribes, the earliest of whom were the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) tribes, who were wandering hunters. Thousands of years ago, possibly as many as 100,000 years, they came out of Asia, crossed the Bering Strait and fanned out across the Americas, possibly in front of an advancing Ice Age.  

The earliest nomadic Indians were most noted for their fluted spear points which they have left as testimony to their presence in the local area. Their spear points, known as “Clovis points,” were made from chipped flint and have been found in several Middle Tennessee counties. They were hunters and fishers without permanent home sites and lived in groups of around 25 people. The men hunted and made tools and weapons, while the women took care of the children, made clothes, gathered wood and plants, and cooked. 

In the burying of their dead, they prepared them for an afterlife, placing in their tombs decorated pottery and other artifacts. They buried their dead on top of the ground, covering them with dirt. The next to die was placed on top of the last and covered. Hence, their burial practices gave rise to the burial mounds, which became prominent in a later period.  

Fewkes Site, named for E.W. Fewkes who led the exploration in 1920, originally consisted of some 15 acres. For the most part, the Mound Builders located their towns in areas of rich soil, near streams that were a source of water as well as a natural fortification, in this case the head water of the Little Harpeth River. There were originally several mounds at this site. All except the largest, which was the ceremonial mound, were excavated in the 1920 dig. Many items of interest were found, including vases and idols.  

The smallest mounds were only a few feet high and 30 or so feet in diameter. The largest on the other hand, ranged up to 70 feet high and covered up to two acres of land. The largest of the mounds, such as the Boiling Springs Mound, are called pyramidal mounds and were probably sites of temples or council houses. 

The mounds were built in clusters around a large plaza. In the flat area the people gathered for religious ceremonies, games, or other public activities. Some of the towns had 200 to 300 houses, and up to 2,000 residents. A wooden palisade was built on the sides of the towns that did not have natural fortifications. Farming was done outside the fence where they grew corn, squash, pumpkin, and beans. The Indians also made fine pottery and jewelry. 

In addition to the spectacular temple mound on Moores Lane, many burial mounds have been found in the Brentwood area. Extensive stone box graves have been found on the Brentwood Country Club property as well as neighboring Meadow Lake Subdivision. Burial mounds have also been found on Kelly road and near Travellers Rest.

Recognized archaeologists such as William Edward Myer and Gates P. Thurston have stated that some of the most significant remains of prehistoric Indian civilizations are to be found within a 30-mile radius of Nashville, the richest sites in the Southeastern United States. Nashville served as a focal point for Mound Builder villages located in what are now surrounding counties of Middle Tennessee, including Williamson County.  

Old roads and Indian trails connected the towns of the Mound Builders. One such Indian trail ran east of Wilson Pike crossing Old Smyrna Road at the Frost Place. The trail continued to the Boiling Springs site on Moores Lane and then on to the so-called DeGraffenreid Site, located on the Lewisburg Pike, southwest of Franklin.  

These explorers, who included DeSoto and his Spanish entourage as well as French hunters and traders, mentioned having found abandoned forts; but none of them mentioned the people who built and lived in these forts.  

The Owl Creek People 

Local Indian authority Malcolm Parker has stated that more pre-historic Indian artifacts have been found in Tennessee than any other state in the Union.  

The Owl Creek site is located just off Concord Road near the confluence of Mill Creek and Owl Creek, about three miles outside the city limits of Brentwood. This site was discovered in 1972 and excavated during the following two years. The results of this excavation revealed that the Indians who lived at the site were primarily of the Mesolithic Period, also called Archaic Period and early Woodland Period. Several styles of tools and weapons unearthed indicated that the Owl Creek site was occupied as early as 6,000 B.C. 

The Owl Creek People were hunters and gatherers. Their garbage found near the “kitchen” area of the site suggested a diet of primarily mussels, supplemented by fish, turtle, and water snails taken from the Owl and Mill Creeks. Diets also included such wildlife as turkey, deer, and beaver, which was theirs for the taking. Their debris indicates that acorns and hazelnuts were also eaten in abundance. Remnants of charcoal are evidence that they cooked their food over open fires.  

The Owl Creek People used the bow and arrow as well as the atlatl, a device used for throwing spears. Many flint projectiles, knife blades, and scrapers were also found at the site. No less than 300 limestone hammers and pestles were found. There was evidence that after roasted deer was eaten, the Owl Creek People would split the bones and eat the marrow for dessert.  

Many polished bone awls, flakers, and needles were found, as well as grooved sandstone whet stones and abraders. No ornaments of shell, stone or bone were found, nor was there any form of agriculture. These arts were for a later generation. 

Evidence at the Owl Creek Site indicated that these people lived in lean-to huts and shelters. The dead were buried in the earth in a flexed position, that is, the knees were drawn up under the chin. Cashes of flint knife blades and spearheads were buried with the dead. Some stone box graves were found at Owl Creek indicating that the site was also inhabited by Indians of a later period, perhaps as recent as 1,000 A.D.   

The Boiling Springs Site

Once five significant mounds marked the site of an ancient Indian village here. The mounds were between Little Harpeth River and a branch of the Boiling Springs. When the four burial mounds were excavated in 1895 and again in 1920, artifacts were found dating back to the Mississippian Period of Indian culture in Tennessee. Relics from the second excavation were placed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The ceremonial mound by Boiling Springs Academy was left undisturbed.  

Prehistoric artifacts included variable amount of shell tempered ceramics, lithic debitage, animal bone, charcoal, and fragments of fired clay. Shovel Tests 11 and 12, located close to the Little Harpeth River, contained a very small amount of prehistoric material in a shallow plow zone overlying sterile subsoil. Quantities of prehistoric artifacts increased in shovel tests located further south. All these units were located near the base of Mound 2. The density of artifacts did not decrease until Shovel Test 20, which contained only 6 shell tempered sherds and 3 chert flakes.  

 

Green Hill 

 

Green Hill, son of Green and Grace Bennett Hill, was one of Brentwood’s residents, originally from a wealthy Virginia Tidewater family. Hill’s parents were communicants of the Church of England, and he was sent to England to be educated. The family then moved to North Carolina, and when the Revolutionary War came along, Green Hill cast his lot with the Colonies. He married Nancy Thomas by whom he had five children. His second marriage was to Mary Sewell by whom he had eight children. Both wives were from prominent North Carolina families. 

Hill received 2,070 acres as land grants from the state of Tennessee and bought 2,281 acres of North Carolina land grants. In 1796, he and his wife came to what was to become Brentwood on an exploratory trip to view his land. Three years later with 10 of their 14 children, they moved to settle in Brentwood in their home called Liberty Hill.  

He was known for his public service and was instrumental in founding the Liberty Methodist Church, one of the oldest churches in Tennessee. That church was the mother church of others in the Brentwood area, namely Smyrna Church (no longer in existence), Johnson Chapel, and Brentwood United Methodist Church.  

The Methodist Church was the first church in Tennessee in 1858 or 1867 (accounts vary) to allow men and women to sit together. The enabling resolution authorized "ladies and gentlemen" to sit together in church "for the better preservation of good order, quiet and convenience of the congregation."  

Prior to that, he represented his county at the New Bern Conference of 1774 and was a member of every North Carolina Provincial Congress while he was a resident of the state. He enlisted as a private in the North Carolina Militia in 1781 at the age of 40. He was later promoted to chaplain.  

Other public service of Green Hill included his election as a Justice of the Peace in 1778, County Court Clerk in 1785, Council of State in 1783, and Delegate to the Confederation Congress in 1785. He also served as State Treasurer for the Halifax District of North Carolina from May 1779 to May 1785.   

He and his family were ardent members of the Methodist movement. His home in North Carolina was the scene of several General Conferences of the Methodist Church. After the Methodist Church was officially organized in 1784, 20 Methodist preachers met in Green Hill's home in Louisburg, North Carolina, to plan the strategy for future growth of the Methodist Church in the South.  

General Conferences in the Methodist Church are where decisions of the church are made. The first one to be held west of the Alleghanies was held at the Brentwood home of Green Hill in 1808.  

The main item on the agenda at the Conference of 1808 was the formulation of a Church policy on slavery. The Church adopted a policy of opposing slavery. It is to be noted that Green Hill himself was then a slave owner and continued to own slaves until his death in 1826. In his will he said: "Respecting my colored people whom I now possess, it is my sincere desire that whenever Government shall permit, that they all be liberated for I consider slavery to be unjust and inconsistent with Spirit and Doctrine of the Gospel of Christ. But under present law we are restrained that liberty, therefore, until that desirable event shall take place I dispose of them as follows...”  

Green Hill and his second wife Mary Sewell Hill are buried in Green Hill Cemetery which is enclosed in a stone wall in Liberty Downs, just south of the home. The cemetery was deeded by his descendants to the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1960 and is maintained as a shrine with a historical marker.  

Green Hill's original plantation was 717 acres made up of a 640-acre grant he purchased from Revolutionary War veteran Randolph Humphreys. He later bought a 77-acre no-man's-land that had not been granted to anyone because of a surveying error. His land ran all the way to Wilson Pike and included a part of the Chenowith, Saratoga Hills, and Indian Point Subdivisions.  

In his will, Green Hill left the 571-acre part of his plantation to his son Joshua Cannon Hill. He was the youngest of Green Hill's children. He was born in 1795 and was a very small child when the family came to Tennessee. He became a physician.  

Joshua Cannon Hill lived but one year longer than his father. He died in 1827 at the age of 32, leaving a wife and five small children. His wife Lemiza Lanier Hill continued to live there until her death in 1860. In his will, Joshua Cannon Hill provided that his four sons be educated for professional callings if they should choose it and that his daughter be educated for a woman's business.  

The children lived up to his expectations. One son, John Lanier Hill, became a Methodist preacher. His oldest son, William Henry Shelby Hill, became a lawyer. He later served as Clerk and Master of the Williamson County Chancery Court and later Judge of that Court. The daughter, Mary Elizabeth Hill, opted to marry a Methodist preacher, William Burr.  

William Henry Shelby Hill (he used his full name), the Judge, ended up with the homeplace. He lived there until his death in 1893. During his tenure, he sold large tracts of the original 571-acre spread.  

After the death of William Henry Shelby Hill, the place passed to Peter D. Owen. It is not clear whether he acquired it by inheritance or whether he purchased it. Peter D. Owen was married to Sallie F. Waller, the daughter of Elizabeth and Pierce Waller. Elizabeth was, before her marriage, Elizabeth Cannon, the granddaughter of Green Hill.  

Peter D. Owen and his wife Sallie F. Waller Owen had two children, John F. (Jack) Owen and a daughter Mary Owen, who married James T. Rains. Jack Owen bought his sister's share at their father's death in 1902. He continued to own the place until the 1930s when he sold it to Joris M. White, although he did not live there. He never married and lived with William H. Edmondson until Edmondson's death. After that, he took up residence with the elder Edmondson's son, Henry Edmondson and his wife Blanche Lazenby Edmondson. Jack Owen lost an arm in a farming accident at an early age. He died in 1941 and is buried in the Waller Cemetery on Cloverland Drive.  

The old Green Hill home stood until 1939 when the farm was sold to Mrs. T. A. Washington. She tore the house down and built another on the same foundation. The old smoke house is the only one of the original buildings that is still standing.  

Mrs. Washington, one of the owners of Liberty Hill (the old name for Liberty Downs), was well known for her iris garden. Charles Plaxico converted the old dairy barn into a green house and carried on a commercial orchid-growing business. He was a widely known authority on the cultivation of orchids.  

An historical marker has been erected at the cemetery which bears the following inscription, Green Hill (Nov. 3, 1741 - Sept. 11, 1826) moved from North Carolina to the large plantation of which this is a center in 1799. Hill was a Revolutionary War Colonel, generous philanthropist, and a Methodist preacher for over 50 years. On Oct. 1-7, 1808 he entertained the ninth session of the Western Conference of the Methodist Church at this place. The cemetery nearby in which Hill and his family are buried was given by 54 of his descendants to the Tennessee Conference of the Methodist Church on June 25, 1960 and was accepted as a Methodist shrine.  

 

Hardscuffle Community 

Hardscuffle Road was located on what is now East Church Street from Franklin Road to Edmonson Pike. When the enslaved were freed in 1865 many of them left local plantations and settled here. They organized churches, schools and commercial establishments in this area.

 

Highland View Subdivision 

Located on the northwestern edge of Brentwood, Highland View dates to the 1800s. The entire area was once part of a huge plantation owned by the Cator and McClanahan families. The valley was a vibrant farming community. 

 

Holly Tree Gap 

Holly Tree Gap is the gateway to Franklin and the Harpeth Valley. There were several skirmishes in the Holly Tree Gap vicinity by Federal and Confederate troops during the Civil War. In December 1862, Brentwood became a hot spot of North-South activity. 

 

Hood’s Retreat 

General John Bell Hood formulated a plan to lead the army to Nashville and retake the city in 1864. This resulted in the Battles of Nashville and Franklin. When Hood’s army camped at Spring Hill, Federal troops passed him and entrenched in Franklin. The battle that followed was called the bloodiest of the Civil War. It lasted two days resulting in a defeat for the Army of Tennessee. They retreated south along Franklin Road. 

 

Johnson Community Club (aka Johnson Schoolhouse) 

Even prior to the Civil War, Tennessee law required that an elementary school would exist in each civil district in the state. Ideally, there would have been a school within walking distance for every child. The area now comprising Brentwood was then the 15th Civil District of Williamson County, and it contained two schools. Lipscomb Elementary served the children on the east side of Franklin Road, and the Johnson School served the children on the west side of the road,  

After the Civil War, things changed for the school. New laws and the formation of a State Board of Education led, in 1872, to the formation of the Williamson County Board of Education. By 1885 the property of the Johnson School was deeded to the School Board. Official papers from the period state that the school was there for the keeping of a public school under the laws of the State of Tennessee and for educational purposes generally." The Johnson School continued to operate until sometime in the 1940's.  

After the school closed, the people of the Johnson Community (the Granny White Pike area) petitioned the School Board for permission to use the old schoolhouse for a community center. In 1946 the Johnson Community Club was in fact given access to the property, and in 1962 the Club was incorporated, and the property was deeded to them.  

As Brentwood grew and populations changed and members of the club either died or moved away, the activities of the Johnson Community Club dwindled. It continued to be a viable organization until the year 2000 when the property was transferred to the Johnson Chapel United Methodist Church. After renovations, the church has used the old schoolhouse for Sunday School classes and other church related activities.  

Johnson Schoolhouse  

There was a time when Tennessee law required that there be a elementary school in each civil district in the state. The idea was that there should be a school within walking distance of every child in the state.  

Brentwood, which was the old 15th Civil District of Williamson County had two elementary schools in the old days. Lipscomb Elementary School served children on the east side of Franklin Road, Children on the west side of Franklin Road were served by the old Johnson Schoolhouse, which stood next to the Johnson Chapel United Methodist Church. The general area in the old days was called the Johnson Community. It was there long before Brentwood was even thought of.  

It is not known when the Johnson Elementary School first opened. After the Civil War, a new State Constitution was adopted which required that every child in the State of Tennessee, both black and white, have access to a free public education, at least through the elementary grades. Prior to the adoption of that Constitution, there was no such thing as a free public education.  

 

Lipscomb Elementary 

In 1860 William Lipscomb founded the school which is located on Concord Road. The first structure was a log building that served as a boarding school. After Mr. Lipscomb left, it became a one-room county school serving students on the east side of Franklin Road. A new building was constructed in 1949. 

 

Noble’s Corner 

In 1929, Dr. Albert H. Noble, a registered pharmacist, purchased five acres on the corner of Franklin Road (then Jackson Highway) and Old Hickory Boulevard (then Brentwood Lane) for $5,000. He built Brentwood’s first drug store. Mr. Marion Oden was associated in the enterprise. It remained a drug store until 1947 when Glenn Noble and wife opened a restaurant in the building. For many years, it was the only restaurant in Brentwood. The property now is the site of Walgreens Pharmacy. 

A newspaper article announcing the opening of the pharmacy described it as being just south of the Interurban property. The Interurban refers to the commuter train that ran between Franklin and Nashville for over 40 years. The transfer station was on the corner of Franklin Road and Old Hickory Boulevard. The name of the pharmacy was Brentwood Heights Pharmacy. The building was described as simulating an English cottage with flowers and shrubs planted around it. The name was later changed to Noble’s and the interior was described as being finished in apple green with tables and chairs in the same color. There was a filling station run in connections with the drug store. 

Glenn Noble, son of Dr. Noble, opened a restaurant at that location in 1947. There were several owners over the years, both within and outside the Noble family.  

A motel called Travelers Rest, added next door to the restaurant in 1954, was operated by Eugenia Noble Delboy and her brother Alex Noble, children of Glenn Noble.  

Noble’s was altered and expanded throughout the years to accommodate its various uses, including being home to ERA Realty Company office.  

The property next to Nobles and Travelers Rest was owned by Glenn Noble's sister, Jean Noble Frank. She built a building that served as the Brentwood Post Office for many years. Adjacent to the Post Office was a strip shopping center that housed Brentwood's first branch bank.  

Noble’s was a Brentwood landmark for 70 years before being torn down in 2001 to make way for a Walgreens Drug Store.  

 

Maryland Manor Stables 

J. Truman Ward, owner of WLAC radio station in Nashville, purchased 100 acres of land along Old Hickory Boulevard in 1937. He later purchased an additional 300 acres and Maryland Farms became a showplace for Tennessee Walking Horses, American saddle horses and over 50 brood mares. 

Maryland Farms had its beginning in 1937 when J. Truman Ward, then owner of WLAC Radio Station in Nashville, bought 100 acres of "stump land" on Old Hickory Boulevard in Brentwood. He later added other lands until he had amassed a 400-acre spread, which he named Maryland Farms for his wife Mary. In 1941-2, they built a family home, calling it Maryland Manor. The two-story colonial style home contained more than 7,500 square feet of living space.  

Ward's love for horses manifested itself in this showplace for fine horses. He began by building a twenty-stall stable measuring 44 by 155 feet with an interior of wormy chestnut and knotty pine ceilings. Twenty by 20 feet stalls were finished in oak. Both American saddle horses and Tennessee walking horses were stabled there for training. Other barns and pastures were enclosed within five miles of white plank fences. In its heyday it was home for 50 brood mares.  

Movie stars and country music legends, including Gene Autry and Barbara Stanwyck, bought their horses from Ward and his trainers. In 1941, the Wards bought American Ace, an outstanding stallion show horse who became a prized sire. After the death of American Ace in 1953, the Ward family replaced their horse operation with a cattle farm. 

In 1958, Edward Potter, founder and president of Commerce Union Bank, leased Maryland Farms and returned horses to the sprawling property. A year later, horse aficionados launched the Brentwood Derby on the farm, an annual horse race that was the Brentwood Chamber of Commerce’s sole fundraiser for local charities until the tradition ceased in 1971.  

Today, Maryland Farms is an office complex where several corporations have located company headquarters. 

 

Owen Chapel 

Owen Chapel was organized as the Euclid Church in 1859. The land for Owen Chapel was donated by Jim C. Owen. While waiting for the building to be completed, services were held across the road in a log building. The first service held in the present structure was in 1867. The bricks were made onsite, and the metal roof was imported from England. Enslaved workers trained as masons in Maryland made the bricks.  

Owen's Chapel Church of Christ was organized July 24, 1859, on Franklin Road, and at that time was known as the Euclid Church. The brick building was perfectly balanced by the two front doors, not for architectural symmetry, but rather one door was for the women, and one door was for the men. Owen Chapel's pews had a partition running right down the middle of the church. The practice of separating men and women during religious services was quite widespread and by no means unique to the Church of Christ,  

It is not clear how long the custom of separating the sexes at Owen Chapel continued. One of the first members to break the barrier was lifelong member Samuel Richardson. He lived next door to the church and was descended from a founding father, the proverbial "pillar of the church." He brought his bride Gladys to the church in 1933. It ‘raised some eyebrows’ when they sat on the same side of the partition."  

Louise Williams Alexander recalls that the women sat on the left-hand side of the church and the men on the right-hand side when she and her husband Earl started attending the church in 1943. She said the practice continued for a long time. She also recalls two pot-bellied stoves that warmed the church in the wintertime.  

The first minister at Owen Chapel was E. G. Sewell, longtime Church of Christ minister and educator. For many years he edited the Gospel Advocate. Another early minister at Owen Chapel was David Lipscomb, co-founder of the Nashville university that bears his name.  

The congregation at Owen Chapel has always been small, many related by blood, marriage, or both, to the church's founders.

 

Owen’s Blacksmith Shop 

The genealogy of the log buildings on the northeast corner of Concord Road and Wilson Pike is not precisely known. They are thought to have been associated with several rather historic events in the area and may have been a store, a wagon making shop, and a blacksmith shop.  

The area is thought to have been what is referred to in historical records as Owen's Crossroads. The Owen family lived north and west of the area.  

We find mention of the area several times during the Civil War. It was involved in the considerable troop movements and foraging activities in the area.  

One of the most interesting occurrences at Owen's Crossroads was the murder of John Edmondson. There was a wagon maker's shop at Owen Crossroads. John Edmondson was a well-to-do resident of the area who lived in the Owen-Primm House on Moore’s Lane. He had ordered a spring wagon and stopped in to check on the progress on the wagon.  

An employee of the shop, W.A. Brown, confronted Edmondson and said, “Thank you for the recommendation you have been circulating through the county about me.” Edmondson responded that he had better things to do that to be talking about Brown. Then, Mr. Brown made the mistake of calling Edmondson a damned liar.  

Not accustomed to have his integrity questioned, Edmondson picked up a wagon spoke and threw it at Brown. Brown retaliated by drawing his revolver and firing two shots into Edmondson's abdomen. He was still living the next day, but his physician reported to the newspaper that both shots were fatal, adding he could not recover.  

In one account Brown was described as a desperate character. Another account reported that he had not been out of the penitentiary many years. Both accounts agreed that he had fled the county and could not be found.  

John Edmondson was indeed a prominent citizen. He was one of the Edmondsons of Edmondson Pike. He was 48 years old at the time of his death. He had married Martha Virginia Owen, daughter of Jabez Owen, who had owned the Owen-Primm House where John Edmondson and his wife lived. They had acquired it from the other heirs upon the death of Jabez Owen.

OWEN MAN KILLED BY BROTHER  

Richard A. Owen was not the most lovable character to ride his horse down Wilson Pike. In fact, he may have been one of the most disreputable of a long line of rascals. He led a life of debauchery that resulted in his untimely death at the hand of his own brother.  

Richard A. Owen could not blame his poor character on being deprived in his younger years. He was the son of Dr. Jabez Owen, physician and planter. He owned hundreds of acres in the Moore’s Lane, Wilson Pike, and Concord Road areas. He was one of the wealthiest men in antebellum days in Williamson County.

Violence was nothing new to the Owen family, Richard A. Owen's sister was married to John Edmondson, who was killed by a workman at a wagon make shop on Wilson Pike as previously reported. He had a brother, Joshua Walter Owen, who was killed by robbers on the Wilson Pike in 1864.  

In the 1840's, records show Richard A. Owen being in jail for the murder of an unknown victim. He contended that he could not go to trial because his chief witness was his brother Joshua W. Owen, who was in Mississippi on business. He claimed his brother would testify that he did not hit the victim hard enough to kill him. He apparently did not deny the assault with a stick.  

In 1845, he was arrested and charged with assaulting one Eleazer B. Staggs. He may be the unknown victim referred to above.  

In 1849, Richard A. Owen was sued by his wife Mary Z. Temple Owen for a divorce. She alleged that after 12 years of marriage he had driven her from their home and that it was not safe for her to return. She requested custody of their four children. She stated that their father was "not a suitable person to have custody." She further alleged that he was guilty of adultery, The suit also stated that Richard A. Owen owned “considerable property and was an heir of Jabez Owen."  

On August 2 (or 6), 1852, Richard A. Owen was knifed to death by his brother Jabez Owen, Jr. He died of a stab wound to the chest. The murder reportedly occurred in one of the upstairs rooms at Forge Seat. He is buried in the Owen Cemetery on the corner of Crockett Road and Wilson Pike, near Forge Seat.  

Jabez Owen, father of renegade Richard A. Owen, built the Primm House on Moore’s Lane (across from the Indian Mound). He lived there until the family moved to what is now the Lineberger place on Liberty Church Road at Concord Road. They bought and moved to Forge Seat in the 1830's.  

Old man Jabez Owen appeared to be pretty cantankerous himself. In the early 1830's, he was party to the eviction of the congregation of Liberty Methodist Church from their church building on Liberty Church Road. He had leased the land to someone else who did the actual eviction, but is was clear that Jabez at least acquiesced in the matter.  

There were several Owen families in the early days, all of whom appear to be related. All of them were prosperous and built some of Williamson County's finest homes, such as the Primm House on Moore’s Lane and Maplelawn (across from Crockett Springs Golf and Country Club). They also built two substantial homes that are no longer standing, one behind Lipscomb Elementary School and the other in what is now Brentmeade Subdivision. One of the Owen women married a Davis who built Mt. View (Ray Bell's home) on Franklin Road.  

 

TN Baptist Children’s Home 

Georgia Eastman or Nashville, Tennessee, with the help of her husband, Roger, originated the idea of a Baptist Orphanage in 1891. They discussed the idea with their pastor at First Baptist Church, who suggested they present it to the Nashville Baptist Pastors’ Conference. 

On April 28, 1891, Mrs. Eastman met with the pastors, accompanied by other women from her church. The pastors advised the women to launch the undertaking and promised their support and cooperation. An organization committee met on May 5, 1891, at First Baptist Church in Nashville. The orphanage was formally organized, and the first Board of Managers was elected. On May 11, the Board of Managers appointed a Men’s Advisory Board, and in June, the two boards merged.  

 

Mr. Buttorff of Edgefield Baptist Church owned a large brick building known as the Railroad Hotel (also known as the Hotel Delaware) on Delaware Avenue in West Nashville. The building was large enough to house 50 or more persons. He offered to sell the building for $15,000, and it became the first permanent building for the Baptist Orphans’ Home. Buttorff then gave the first $500. Old Mill Creek Baptist Church sent $13.80 as the first church gift to the Baptist Orphanage at this same meeting. A payment of $3,000 on the property and the filing of the charter were completed on October 13, 1891.  

Earlier, the Board of Managers voted to present the undertaking to the Baptist State Convention, which was to meet in Clarksville, October 15-17, 1891. The Convention Committee recommended that the “object of the Orphan’s Home are to care for, educate, and provide homes for unprotected, but not exclusively of Baptist parentage. Being a noble charity and a Christian work, we unhesitatingly recommend and urge upon this Convention to make it one of its objects.” The Convention unanimously adopted their report and endorsed the home, but it was not until 1894 that it came under the authority of the Tennessee Baptist Convention.  

The Baptist Orphanage opened its doors to receive children on November 16, 1891, in the Hotel Delaware building in West Nashville. Mrs. Stella Gardner was employed as the first matron, and T.T. Thompson served as the first financial agent speaking to the churches on behalf of the Orphanage. Dessie L. Allen, an eight-year-old girl from Cocke County in East Tennessee, was the first child. Four other children were admitted by the opening day, and by the following year, 22 children were receiving care.  

In the spring of 1896, a disease first diagnosed as “sand itch” plagued the children. The infected children were isolated, and several attempts by local physicians failed to provide a cure. A U.S. health officer came from Washington to examine the children and the living quarters. He diagnosed the disease as pellagra, caused by an easily corrected vitamin deficiency.  

By 1898, the Orphans’ Home was free of debt through the concerted efforts of the pioneering Baptist women and the leadership of Baptist pastors.  

In 1911, the Board voted to purchase a 75-acre farm from Major C. T. Cheek (of Maxwell House Coffee fame) for $12,000. Cheek, an Episcopalian, then donated $5,000 toward the purchase price. The farm was located 12 miles south of Nashville on the old Franklin Interurban Street Car line. A primary motivation behind the move was the overall health of the children. Influenza and mold disease had become a problem in the Nashville location, and a doctor recommended a move to the country’s clean air. At that time, South Brentwood was a rural area served by the Franklin Post Office and still recovering from the ravages of the Civil War. It was not yet the thriving horse farm area it would become after the Great Depression and WWII.  

The construction of three large dormitories on the new site provided the housing for the Baptist Orphanage was completed on June 7, 1912. The Board purchased an additional 60 acres of land that same year to provide space for other dorms. One building would serve as the central dining room, school, and church. The boys’ building was completed around 1930 through a unique campaign by the Woman’s Missionary Union. They redeemed 800,000 Octagon Soap coupons to erect and furnish the building. 

Over time, the more official name, Tennessee Baptist Orphan’s Home, came to be used. The Board purchased additional land for the home, increasing the campus and farm to 478 acres (larger than Maryland Farms would ever be). In 1953, the name was changed to Tennessee Baptist Children’s Homes, Inc. (TBCH) 

In 1960, with the incorporation of the City of Brentwood, the TBCH “moved” from Route 5, Franklin, to 1310 Franklin Road, Brentwood, by simply changing the address. Some old-timers still refer to the ministry as “the Children’s Home in Franklin,” but it has been on land in the City of Brentwood since 1911.  

In 1961, the State of Tennessee granted a license to the TBCH to function as an adoption agency. They created the position of Director of Social Work and added social workers to the staff. Also, in the 60s, a new plan changed the operational concept from dormitories to private homes so that the children could be cared for in a more personal manner.  

In 1967, the Board of Managers became the Board of Trustees, and the president became Chairman of the Board (today, the president does not serve as Chairman). When the Tennessee Baptist Convention Building was completed in Brentwood in 1969, the Children’s Homes’ Central Office (now called State Office) moved to the TBC building on Maryland Way.  

Through the Middle Tennessee Capital Funds Campaign in 1970, the sale of 372 acres of the Brentwood campus land, some sizeable wills and gifts, funds were made available to build ten cottages (7-bedroom ranch-style homes), and three other buildings on the Brentwood campus. The current housing developments on the South side of Wikle Road and the West side of Franklin Road were made possible due to this sale. A much later sale of some 40 acres immediately to the East of the campus leaves TBCH with an approximately 60-acre campus and no plans to sell additional land.  

The Jarman Building, made possible by a gift from Maxey Jarman of Genesco Shoe Company fame and longtime TBCH Board member and benefactor, was renovated in 1982 for office space for the Brentwood campus. This building had been a dormitory for the teenage girls. The other remaining older building, once a campus hospital, was later used as an apartment for the director of cottage life and his family. 

The Tally School Building, which housed the campus school and administration offices for the Brentwood campus, was razed in 1983. It had been a fully functioning school for children through the 10th grade. The Children’s Home church (the concept is no longer functioning) also met in that building. In 1997 a new TBCH state office building was erected on the site of the old schoolhouse, and once completed, the state staff moved from the TBC building into the new offices of the TBCH.  

Now, each resident attends public school, is supervised by cottage parents, and each cottage chooses which of the several Baptist churches in the area to attend.  

State-wide, the TBCH operates other campuses in Bartlett (near Memphis) and in Chattanooga. There is a Boy’s Ranch in Millington (West Tennessee) for teenage boys and several cottages in East Tennessee.  

It would require many volumes to tell of the hundreds of staff, house parents, social workers, office personnel, cottage life directors, teachers, cooks, farmers, truck and bus drivers, recreational directors, and their tremendous contributions to this ministry. Hundreds of Board members have given their time and energy in travel and meetings.  

The exact numbers of the children TBHC has served are not available due to the loss of older records in a fire but would equal the population of some of our middle-size Tennessee cities.  

Currently, the population of children is limited to no more than six per cottage and must be old enough for and qualified to attend public school (K-12). All of the children are enrolled at Lipscomb Elementary, Brentwood Middle, or Brentwood High Schools. However, the TBCH offers each of its high school graduates the opportunity to remain on campus and work towards a debt-free vocational or college education, funded by scholarships, grants, and direct TBCH aid from a college fund.  

The funding of the TBCH is a story all its own. The organization has never received any money from the Federal or State government. All funds are given by individuals, churches, businesses, and corporations with Southern Baptist churches making up the largest donor base. The remaining funding comes from direct gifts of money, estate gifts, grants, or gifts in kind.  

 

Williamson County 

Settlers arrived by 1798, and on October 26, 1799, the Tennessee General Assembly created Franklin and Williamson County.

 

WSM Tower 

The WSM Tower, nicknamed the diamond antenna, was built in 1932 to broadcast the Grand Ol’ Opry, the longest-running radio show in history. Standing at 878 feet tall, the diamond was the tallest tower in America when it was built. 

Liberty Methodist Church 

The first church in the Brentwood area was the Liberty Methodist Church. Located between Brentwood and Nolensville, it became the mother church in both areas. It was founded around 1800 by Green Hill, a Revolutionary War veteran and early Methodist leader. The church moved to its current location across the road in 1830.

Moore family records reveal that Eleanor Moore, wife of early Brentwood settler James Moore, died in 1809 and was buried at the Liberty Meeting House.  

Hill was one of several Methodist leaders associated with the Liberty Church. Other early trustees included Hill’s son-in-law Joshua Cannon, Benjamin Sewell, and Moses Spires (Spier or Spear), all Methodist preachers. 

Early Methodist itinerant preacher Lorenzo Dow mentions attending the Liberty Church in 1804 on his way from Ohio to Natchez, Mississippi. In his journal he wrote:  

“Camp meeting commenced at Liberty; here I saw the jerks; and some danced: a strange exercise indeed; however, it is involuntary, yet requires consent of the will, i.e. the people are taken jerking irresistibly, and if they strive to resist it, it worries them much, yet is attended with no bodily pain, and those who are exercised to dance, (which in the pious seems an antidote to the jerks) if they resist, it brings deadness and barrenness over the mind; but when they yield to it they feel happy, although it is a great cross; there is a heavenly smile and solemnity on the countenance, which carries a great conviction to the minds of beholders; their eyes when dancing seem to be fixed upwards as if upon an invisible object, and they are lost to all below.” 

One of the brightest hours of the Liberty Church was in 1808 when it hosted the Western Conference of the Methodist Church. This conference was presided over by Bishops McKendree and Asbury and was the first annual conference held west of the Alleghenies.  

When the original church was built around 1800, the property was not deeded to the church’s trustees. Some 30 years later, the then owner of the adjoining land took advantage of that oversight and leased his land, including the church building, to a tenant farmer. The tenant forthwith began to use the church building for a hay shed. 

Church members were outraged and immediately brought legal action to evict the tenant and his hay, but the tenant refused to budge. John Hamer, who owned the land across the road, came to the rescue and deeded the church an acre of his land where the new church was built.

 

Franklin Interurban Stop 

The Nashville-Franklin Interurban Electric Trolley ran from Nashville to Franklin beginning in 1908 and made its final run in November of 1941. The stop was located on Meadow Lake Blvd. 

 

Stone Box Indian Site 

The Stone Box Indian Site, also known as the Arnold Site, is located in the Meadowlake subdivision off Franklin Road. Numerous stone box graves were situated in burial plots. The graves were probably from Native Americans of the Mississippian Period who disappeared around the 1700s.