The Buchanan-Harding House

The Buchanan-Harding house is the oldest existing structure on the Two Rivers site. Though no exact construction date exists, David Buchanan is credited with building the house in 1802. He owned the Two Rivers tract between 1794 and 1812. William Harding purchased the property in 1819 but did not move to the site until 1823, when he became one of the largest property owners in the Nashville area. It is unclear who lived in the house after Harding's death in 1832. Tenants were likely overseers who managed the property until the 1840s., The Buchanan-Harding house is a vernacular Federal-style brick structure. It is two stories and has a central staircase and four rooms. The downstairs rooms were used as a kitchen and parlor, with bedrooms located upstairs. Built on a limestone foundation with both a house cellar and a root cellar, there is no architect of record, which is not uncommon for this period in Tennessee. A brick structure was considered a sign of wealth and this one contains two distinct types of brick, one deep red with a high iron content and the other orange with few iron inclusions. The red brick is much harder due to the iron. The orange brick deteriorates more rapidly, probably because it was fired at a lower temperature. All the brick was made at a kiln somewhere on the property, possibly near the spring-fed creek to the west., After Two Rivers Mansion was built by David and Willie Harding McGavock in 1859, the Buchanan-Harding house may have provided living space for enslaved people who worked in the mansion; the kitchen was used as the primary food preparation area for both houses. In the 1880s the kitchen was moved to the mansion, probably to accommodate boarders who rented the basement rooms to supplement the McGavock family's income.