(side 1)
The Halfacre Reams Fleming Family Cemetery was first laid out on one of the highest points of the Reams Fleming land. On the other prominent peak to the west was constructed Highland Hall, the land's manor house.
The prominent . . . — — Map (db m160315) HM
Dedicated to the men and women of Williamson County who served their country in time of need
October 26, 1799 • October 26, 1999 — — Map (db m61731) WM
On September 28, 1861, local men sympathetic to the Confederacy gathered in this field to form the Williamson County Cavalry (Co. F, 4th Tennessee Cavalry). The local newspaper pronounced the company composed of “about 100 of the finest . . . — — Map (db m103480) HM
In the 1930s, Wirt Harlin created Harlinsdale Farms from a tract of land he bought near downtown Franklin, Tennessee. This farm would soon become cemented in history as one of the founding Tennessee Walking Horse Farms and as the home of the . . . — — Map (db m202408) HM
Tennessee Baptist Children's Home. On May 5, 1891 a committee assembled by Mrs. Georgia Eastman met to organize the “Tennessee Baptist Orphans' Home.” The home became a reality Oct. 13, 1891 when by laws were adopted, application made for . . . — — Map (db m271988) HM
On November 24, 1863, at the time of the fighting for Lookout Mountain, all of which took place on the side of the mountain, not the top, this position along the West Brow was held by the 18th and 20th Tennessee Infantry. Composed largely of men . . . — — Map (db m51692) HM
John P. Buchanan, the 28th governor of Tennessee, was born in Williamson County on October 27, 1847. After serving in the Confederate Army, he moved to Rutherford County. In 1887, he was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives. Three years . . . — — Map (db m82460) HM
In the fall of 1926, the school moved to this location into a $125,000 new building paid for by the town of Franklin, and the faculty was supplied by Williamson County. Principal Guy Craddock and a staff of ten teachers greeted the students. The . . . — — Map (db m149121) HM
Pre-war Middle Tennessee thrived. Residents free and enslaved grew copious amounts of corn, wheat, timber, cattle, and horses, and no area of the South produced more mules and hogs. Roads, rails, and telegraph wires webbed across the center of the . . . — — Map (db m188612) HM
Tennessee native John McQueen Taylor came to Texas with his family in 1829 as a settler in the Empresario Grant of Lorenzo de Zavala. Taylor fought in the Anahuac disturbances of 1834 and later, as a soldier in the Texas army, he participated in . . . — — Map (db m23483) HM
The Tennessee and Alabama Railroad connected the "town of Thompson" to Nashville in 1855 and south to Columbia in 1859. Antebellum investors envisioned the railroad, which traveled through some of the most productive lands in Davidson, Williamson, . . . — — Map (db m208537) HM
On March 24, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln told Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson, “The colored population is the great available, and yet unavailed of, force for restoring the Union.” In September 1863, Johnson gave permission to Maj. . . . — — Map (db m189735) HM
(prelude)
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to . . . — — Map (db m141977) HM
Francis Giddens, more than any other early settler, made the area around Thompson's Station a community and a stopping place for travelers. Giddens, a Virginian and Revolutinoary War veteran and gunsmith, arrived in Williamson County around 1800 . . . — — Map (db m205403) HM
Born in Williamson County, A.O.P. Nicholson attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill at the age of fifteen. When he graduated four years later, Nicholson studied medicine and, later, law. He was admitted to the bar in 1831 and began . . . — — Map (db m196593) HM
On this site was the home of Robert H. Hatton that was unfortunately destroyed by fire after the war. He was born in October in 1826, but early in his life his family moved to Lebanon. He graduated from Cumberland University and then studied law at . . . — — Map (db m268193) HM
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman's supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman's "March to the Sea", Hood . . . — — Map (db m273920) HM
(Prelude) In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman's supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman's "March to the . . . — — Map (db m149830) HM
Wiley Fore and his family came to this area from Alabama in 1883. The Baker community had been started two years earlier by Fore's nephew, Robert Baker, and his family. Soon after his arrival Fore organized the Bethel Cumberland Presbyterian . . . — — Map (db m3562) HM
Revolutionary War soldiers and brothers, Shared fought for North Carolina and Jacob fought for both North and South Carolina. In the winter of 1820-1821 they brought their families here from Williamson County, Tennessee and settled near this site. — — Map (db m116507) HM
(Front): Rutherford County Established 1803; named in honor of Maj. Gen. Griffith Rutherford of the Revolutionary Army; appointed by President Washington as a Member of the Legislature for the Southwest Territory, which later became the . . . — — Map (db m82569) HM
Marion’s Rifles, CSA
In May 1861 over 50 men from the 1st District of Williamson County traveled to Franklin and enlisted in Company H of the 20th Tennessee Confederate Infantry Regiment. Company H was nicknamed Marion's Rifles. This . . . — — Map (db m162883) HM
"Throughout 1862 first one army would be encamped in town, then the Federals. Raids were frequent, then we would run down in our cellar to get out of the range of the bullets. Sometimes we would spend a whole night there. The quiet would go on for . . . — — Map (db m103333) HM
Williamson County's first courthouses, one log, one brick, were in the center of the square. This the third, completed in 1858 under the supervision of John W. Miller, is one of seven antebellum courthouses in Tennessee. The four iron columns were . . . — — Map (db m61696) HM
In 1853, John S, Claybrook, a Williamson County railroad visionary, led a group of about 30 local citizens to provide the initial $20,000 capital for building the Tennessee & Alabama Railroad. The City of Franklin followed with $20,000. Once the . . . — — Map (db m142176) HM
This house, named for its location at the confluence of the Big Harpeth and West Harpeth rivers, was built in the early 1800s by Thomas Harden Perkins (1757-1838), Revolutionary War officer, Tennessee pioneer, planter, and ironmaster. It is one of . . . — — Map (db m149798) HM
Walter Aiken Roberts (June 4, 1865 - July 3, 1948), born in Pulaski (Giles County) Tennessee, son of Dr. Joseph Coleman Roberts (11.18.1821 - 3.24.1898) and Sarah Jane Anthony Roberts (1.23.1832 - 12.24.1901).
W.A. Roberts married . . . — — Map (db m161311) HM
In 1861, Williamson County, white and black, braced for war. Men near Thompson's Station joined Jacob "Jake" T. Martin's 140-strong Confederate cavalry force. The war challenged women's traditional roles, but many joined the effort by taking charge . . . — — Map (db m205406) HM
Tennessee native Jesse Eugene Cooper (1855–1944) came to Texas in 1876. The following year he helped establish a Georgetown newspaper, the “Williamson County Sun.” In addition to his role as editor, he also founded a local bank . . . — — Map (db m4375) HM
Of Tennessee’s 83 counties in 1860, only in three did slaves outnumber whites. Two were near the Mississippi River, where large plantations flourished. The third was Williamson County.
The McGavocks of Carnton, who owned 39 people in 1860, were . . . — — Map (db m188574) HM
Stone Hall and the cabin Eversong on the Stones River are situated on land that
before white settlers came was Native American Indian hunting grounds controlled
primarily by the Cherokee, but also used by the Shawnee and Chickasaw. . . . — — Map (db m147665) HM
The first enslaved African Americans were brought to Carnton in the nineteenth century. In 1820, eleven slaves lived here. By 1860, forty-four enslaved men, women and children labored on the six-hundred-acre farm. They lived in eleven cabins, most . . . — — Map (db m208549) HM
The Old Natchez Trace
This original 4.1 mile stretch of the Old Natchez Trace from Old Hillaboro Road to Sneed Road has been in continual use since 1801 and is part of the Williamson County road system. In this short piece of the original . . . — — Map (db m149812) HM
Tyler Berry, Jr. (12.4.1912-2.27.1996) was the original Tennessee Volunteer, Lawyer, Farmer and Outdoorsman and always a man of integrity and honor. Growing up on the Reams Fleming Place and Chadwell Place, he energetically ran his traps before . . . — — Map (db m160320) HM
Born in South Carolina December 12, 1793 Killed by Indians October 8, 1848 Served in the Army of Texas, 1835-36 Signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, 36 Member of the Senate of the Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Congresses . . . — — Map (db m239507) HM
During much of the 19th century, those who lived in the city came from all walks of life. Nashville's population was comprised of a combination of independent business owners, slaveholders, poor whites, Irish an german immigrants, free Blacks, and . . . — — Map (db m205371) HM
Robert Carothers, Sr., a Revolutionary War soldier, and his family came to Tennessee from North Carolina in 1791 and were living in Williamson County in 1799. His son James, a War of 1812 veteran, became a prosperous landowner well-known for his . . . — — Map (db m149859) HM
Preface:In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman's supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman's "March to the . . . — — Map (db m193536) HM WM
Flagpole Campground
During the 1890s Williamson County experienced a religious awakening under the banner of the “Holiness Movement.” Advocates of the “second blessing" and “entire sanctification” met at . . . — — Map (db m166398) HM
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to the Sea,” Hood . . . — — Map (db m41119) HM
Side 1
Lieutenant Colonel Hardy Murfree-
Military Land Grant
Hardy Murfree was a lieutenant colonel in the Revolutionary War
and played a significant role in many major engagements. He was
awarded a military land grant of 5,760 . . . — — Map (db m169334) HM
Two Franklins, One Dream
Before the City of Franklin was established in 1799, another "Franklin" had already captured the imagination of the American frontier. In 1784, pioneers west of the Appalachians attempted to create a brand-new state, . . . — — Map (db m304360) HM
Born in Williamson County, Tennessee, in 1827, Robert E. Neill migrated with his family to what is now Caldwell County, Texas, at the age of four. At age nine, while grinding corn meal for the Texas Army, he suffered a crushing injury that crippled . . . — — Map (db m260132) HM
Tennessee native Daniel Harrison (1816-1870) migrated to Texas in 1835. He served with Texan forces during the Texas Revolution, and as a volunteer for the Republic’s militia. He was in the 1839 Battle of the Neches. In 1840, Harrison married . . . — — Map (db m28812) HM
Tennessee native John Giles Matthews came to Texas with his parents in 1839 and settled in the new town of Austin. A Ranger for the Republic of Texas, Matthews served in the Mexican War and the Civil War before moving to Williamson County in 1870. . . . — — Map (db m77946) HM
Jacob M. and Mary McCutcheon Harrell came to Texas from Tennessee with Robertson’s Nashville colony in 1833. Jacob’s brother and sister-in-law James G. and Catherine Harrell and other family members soon followed. Both brothers served in the Texas . . . — — Map (db m69255) HM
(preface)
In September 1864, after Union Gen. William T. Sherman defeated Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood at Atlanta, Hood led the Army of Tennessee northwest against Sherman’s supply lines. Rather than contest Sherman’s “March to the . . . — — Map (db m70660) HM
Spencer Repeating Rifle
The Civil War occurred during a period of technological revolution. In the 1850s, the US Army replaced its smoothbore weapons with the long-range rifle musket Then, just before the war, Christopher Spencer, a . . . — — Map (db m166844) HM
Murfreesboro
First settlers came in 1799; the settlement was first named Cannonsburg. It was actually founded in 1811, on land donated by Capt. William Lytle, who stipulated that the town should be named for Hardy Murfree, a Revolutionary . . . — — Map (db m149642) HM
This classic two-story Federal-style house was built c 1829 by Judge Thomas Stuart, Williamson County's first Circuit Judge. It features Flemish Bond brickwork on the front and American Bond on the sides and rear. The “glorified . . . — — Map (db m166391) HM
The first memorial service in Illinois, and one of the first in the nation, to honor those who had died in the Civil War, took place at Woodlawn Cemetery on April 29, 1866. On that day, a group of more than 200 veterans gathered at the old "Blue . . . — — Map (db m163493) HM
Western Highland Rim
The Western Highland Rim coupled with the Eastern Rim is the upland surrounding the Central Basin. Its 7,5000 square miles is a broad, tilted plateau about 900 feet above sea level on the eastern edge sloping down to 700 . . . — — Map (db m206498) HM
The Tennessee Constitutional Convention in 1834 considered where the
permanent seat of state government should be located.
A delegate from Williamson County argued that for reasons of equity and convenience,
the state capital should be as . . . — — Map (db m208311) HM
Inside the fence is a family cemetery. Buried here are James McGavock, his wife Lucinda, family members and descendants. The cemetery was part of 900 acres the McGavocks assembled in the Harpeth River in the early 1800s. During their lifetimes, they . . . — — Map (db m202638) HM
The Rucker-Lawrence House was erected on this site in 1952 by Robert Rucker, Sr., a local brick mason, building contractor and developer of Rucker Subdivision, the first exclusive African American subdivision developed in Franklin after World War . . . — — Map (db m316420) HM
Nestled in the Harpeth River Valley, the rolling
pastures and forested hillsides of Preservation Park
capture the centuries old stories of Thompson's
Station, where Native Americans resisted early settlers, the coming of the railroad created a . . . — — Map (db m205402) HM
A pioneer agricultural community of Williamson County, this site was first settled in the late 1840s by Uriah H. Anderson, a native of Tennessee who received a land grant here from the state of Texas. By 1857 a rural school was in operation and . . . — — Map (db m24935) HM
To the west of here the rest of Gen. Brown's Division pressed Confederate division on the field and numbered over 3,500 men. As Gordon and Strahl pierced the center, the brigade led by Brig. Gen. States Rights Gist, on Gordon's left, smashed into . . . — — Map (db m300363) HM
Staunchly pro-Confederate Williamson County raised several large regiments in the spring of 1861. But after the fall of Nashville in February 1862, Federal regiments quickly occupied the region. They suppressed hostile Confederate sympathizers and . . . — — Map (db m142697) HM
Railroad Section Foreman's House
Built around 1870, this quaint structure was home for the foreman, who oversaw all track maintenance for this section of railroad between Nashville and Columbia. Across the railroad tracks near the riverbank two . . . — — Map (db m149275) HM
John Churchill Gaines Blackburn (1832-1912) was born in Tennessee and came to Texas in 1853. He and his wife Mary Ann Chambers Blackburn (1831-1908) first stopped with other family members in Williamson County, then moved to Bell County in 1854. . . . — — Map (db m287762) HM
Born in Tennessee on June 15, 1811. While very young learned the printing trade and worked at it in some of the principal cities of the United States.
Came to Nacogdoches, Texas, in November, 1835, in answer to pleas for volunteers for Texas . . . — — Map (db m176387) HM
(front):
Murfreesboro>
First settlers came in 1799; the settlement was first named Cannonsburg. It was actually founded in 1811 on land donated by Capt. William Lytle, who stipulated that the town should be named for Hardee Murfree, a . . . — — Map (db m168572) HM
On July 5, 1819, The Williamson County Court authorized “building of a bridge across the Harpeth at the town of Franklin.” The bridge was a large, enclosed, double covered bridge having a partition along its middle course, with two . . . — — Map (db m142259) HM
After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the U.S. War Department created the Bureau of Colored Troops on May 22, 1863. Approximately 200,000 African American men enlisted in segregated U.S. Army regiments under white officers and served in . . . — — Map (db m146135) HM
Tennessee-native Thomas Calvin Weir (1826-1901) came to Williamson County in 1856. He bought land in this area and became a prosperous farmer. Alabaman James Francis Towns (1850-1937) came in 1870 and settled nearby on the San Gabriel River. He . . . — — Map (db m2754) HM
History of the Ravenswood Enslaved Cabins
The Ravenswood Mansion has deep roots in the Brentwood community. James Hazard Wilson II, a wealthy slave-owner of 55 people, purchased hundreds of acres of land to establish the plantation and began . . . — — Map (db m274237) HM
Professor William Lipscomb, brother of the Lipscomb University founder David Lipscomb, founded Lipscomb Elementary School as a private academy in the 1860s. Lipscomb Academy was considered to be the best prep school in the area and was known for its . . . — — Map (db m284270) HM
The History of Ravenswood
The Ravenswood Mansion has deep roots in the Brentwood community. James Wilson II, a wealthy slave-owner of 55 people, purchased hundreds of acres of land to establish the plantation and began construction in 1825. . . . — — Map (db m274236) HM
A spring house is typically a small, one-room outbuilding constructed over the source of a spring or brook used for refrigeration. These were once commonly found in rural areas before the advent of electric refrigeration. The natural spring water . . . — — Map (db m284266) HM
According to a Nashville newspaper, by 1863 the ravages of war had made once-prosperous Franklin "but the ruin of its former greatness. Desolation and decay have passed over it."
The Union occupation in the spring of 1863 was followed by a . . . — — Map (db m120382) HM
Mark Andrews (1740-1821), Revolutionary soldier
and his wife, Winifred Lyell, grandparents of the
Reverend, were the first of the Andrews family to
migrate from Virginia to Williamson County, arriving
just prior to 1800. Purchasing the NC land . . . — — Map (db m205399) HM
The first Nolensville African American church began worship services
here in an old farmhouse soon after the Civil War. On April 21, 1869
the land was purchased by Ohio missionary G.H. Hartupee, who helped
fund several African American churches . . . — — Map (db m198901) HM
After the Civil War, the people of Thompson's Station rebuilt their community, reformed agricultural practice, and opened a new era of economic prosperity. Outside of the park is a symbol of the social and community rebuilding, the historic African . . . — — Map (db m205407) HM
Thin black lines indicate changes in relevance. Between each pair of lines entries are ordered geographically but all have the same relevance.
* Inflectional forms of words are their plurals, singulars, and possessives as well as gramatical tenses and similar variations.
