Hamilton Place

Hamilton Place. . In 1791, Elijah Hamilton purchased 320 acres on the West Harpeth River. Around that time, he moved his family to this site, known as Hamilton Place (Williamson County Tax Book I shows he was here in 1800). The house, designed with a rigid symmetry and hall-and-parlor plan, reflects a blend of Georgian and Federal architecture. When Elijah died in 1825, Elizabeth Hamilton Garrett and her husband, Caleb, inherited the house and 82 acres. In 1828, Elizabeth and her twins died during childbirth and are buried together near the house. After Caleb died in 1838, his heirs sold to Thomas Moore. In 1845, Moore traded Hamilton Place (valued at $2,500) to his father-in-law, Nicholas Tate Perkins (builder of Two Rivers), for the farm now known as the Livingfield More farm (valued at $6,600) , the difference in value to be paid in cotton at 12½ cents/lb., While owned by Perkins, Hamilton Place became known as Cottonwood. In 1845, Alexander Brown purchased the place for $1,105 and it remained in the Brown family for 100 years. Alexander's brother, Thomas, built the nearby 1846 Greek Revival house at historic Old Town. Since 1945, the house and 5 acres has had 5 owners, including author Robert Hicks, The Widow of the South (re: Carnton Plantation). In 1987, Bill and Becky Barkley purchased the property and began to restore the original structure and early decorative interiors. During his work on the restoration, Dr. Jack May uncovered layers of time and documented original period colors and designs, published nationally in magazines and historic decorative interior books. Hamilton Place was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.