Mt. Pleasant Pike Mt. Pleasant, TN
Circa 1855. 2-story Greek Revival mansion
Jerome Bonaparte Pillow (1809-1891) and Elvira Dale Pillow (1816-1889) built Pillow-Bethell House/ Bethell Place on 1,200 acres.
Photo from Experience Maury Co TN
Pillow-Bethell House was the third large home built by the Pillow brothers. The grandfather, John Pillow, came to the Cumberland settlement in 1784. His son, Gideon, journeyed south to the emerging Maury Co. area as a surveyor. He purchased 5,000 acres and settled in 1808. Gideon built a mill nearby on Little Bigsby Creek.
When he died in 1830, the property was split between the three sons. Jerome was the third brother in a family of prosperous Maury Co. planters. After Jerome’s death, their daughter, Cynthia Saunders Pillow Bethell (1841-1924), inherited the home and resided there with her husband William Decatur Bethell (1840-1906). He established the Bethell House Hotel in downtown Columbia which operated until 1949 when it burned.
The home has remained in the family. In 1943, Charles Worthington Jewell (1912-1990) and Sarah Ann Jewell (1915-1993) purchased the property which still had 750 acres and restored it by 1959. His family operates a working farm called Jewell Farm Smoked Hams and sell to customers. They also owned Rattle and Snap for a short time. In 2018, daughter Eva James Jewell Crichton and her husband Andrew run it. NRHP 1976 See also Clifton Place, Rattle and Snap, Rose Hill
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