Belle Meade Plantation

After we left the Grand Ole Opry, we toured a Plantation.
I love to do these sorts of tours, where you feel almost like you've stepped back in time!

We went to the Belle Meade Plantation (which means beautiful meadow) in Nashville. It was very interesting to drive through the city and then suddenly come upon this view!

This is the entry to the plantation. You probably can't see it but there was a woman in period dress, hoop skirts and all standing in the front doorway.

This was the original home of the owner, built in1807 on 250 acres of land. He did very well and built the larger house on 1820. It reached a peak of 5000 acres and became one of the finest thoroughbred breeding operations in the country. Every horse that has raced in the Kentucky Derby since 2003 can trace it's bloodline to this plantation!
This property remained a private residence until 1953, when it was acquired by the Association of Tennessee Antiquities.

Our first stop was the carriage house. It was a beautiful building, with a herringbone patterned, brick paving floor. There were lots of old wagons and buggies to look at.

Here are a few buildings on the property, clockwise from top left:
Carriage house, gardeners building, play house and dairy. In the same picture as the dairy you can see some slave quarters to the left.

A huge magnolia tree in the back yard.

Part of the back yard.

The back porch

Heather, Andy and Bob sitting in the front before our tour.

This is Tom, who toured us through the house and told us it's history. One of the interesting things he shared was that President Grover Cleveland spent his honeymoon here!

The damage on this front pillar is from gunshots during the civil war.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but our guide let me take this picture looking out the second floor window.

Here's a few pictures of the beautiful property.


We all really enjoyed our day in Nashville!