Dairy

Dairy. Belle Meade Plantation. , In 1884 the dairy house was completed with walls measuring two feet thick made of ashlar limestone, perfect for the cool keeping of dairy products. Nashville stonemason, Con Callaghan, constructed the building in the Romanesque Revival style and added all of the latest technology to his design. Originally constructed with two floors, a staircase was added on the south side of the building allowing access to the second floor. A wooden engine house was also constructed to enclose the mechanized churns, which allowed Belle Meade to produce an enormous amount of dairy products each day., The dairy was situated near a spring which, “was part of a year-round fresh water system which originated south of the family mausoleum and in wet weather flowed west as a little branch into Richland Creek.” This constant flow of cold water allowed the dairy staff to keep products cool at all times. In 1888, more than 40 cows were milked daily, with each cow yielding four to six pounds of butter per week. The Belle Meade Farm provided milk for a local Nashville grocer, W.C. Collier, and delivered dairy products along a daily route into Nashville. The dairy business at Belle Meade was second only to the Thoroughbred business, with more than one hundred head of the finest thoroughbred jersey cattle in Tennessee.,

Under such conditions, it is not to be wondered at that the product from this dairy should take the very first rank in general excellence. Old methods will not do for these new times, and the day is not far distant when the Southern dairyman will realize more fully than he has yet done that in order to get the best results and the largest profit from his work, he must adopt the modern and improved appliances and machinery. , , The Nashville American, 1899

, Dairy Barn “The skimming-room is situated in one corner of the court, and its equipment, which has just been installed, is most complete and elegant, having been built especially for the Belle Meade Farm by P. M. Sharples of Westchester, Pa. The vats are handsomely finished in natural wood and the separator is of the most improved Sharples tubular pattern; having a capacity of 2,560 pounds of milk per hour, and producing the finest quality of cream. By using this centrifugal system of separating the cream from the warm, fresh milk, not only is butter produced in much larger quantities, but is of a greatly superior quality.” , The Nashville American, 1899, Dairy 1890 "The building is a very handsome stone structure, and is most admirably adapted to its purpose. In one end of the cream-room is an oblong stone basin, through which a stream of cold water is constantly flowing by means of a siphon from a wall nearby. Into this room the cream is taken direct from the separator, and after being thoroughly cooled and aerated on a “Star” aerator, is set-away in cooling cans to ripen for churning.” -The Nashville American, 1899, Caption: Belle Meade Milk can c.1890 Belle Meade Plantation permanent collection.