Bonaventure: Offshoot of Honeywood Farm

The large red brick house was built in 1911 by Charles Clay Trabue (1872-1942) and Julia Malone Trabue (1874-1976).

It sat on 15 acres facing Harding Pike and had been part of the Honeywood estate of Julia’s parents, Thomas and Ellen Malone. A farm road along the back of the property became the main entrance to Belle Meade Blvd in 1913 and was a second entrance to the farm. The home shared a southern border with Johnson Bransford’s 20 acre farm Deerfield.

Trabue was a prominent lawyer and served as president of the Tennessee Bar Association from 1931-32. After Trabue’s death, son and daughter-in-law Charles Jr. (1910-2002) and wife Mary Hamilton Trabue (1917-2013) moved into Bonaventure to help Julia. They wed in 1936. Charles Jr. was a partner in the firm that became a Nashville staple: Trabue, Sturdivant & Dewitt. He was also a chairman of the Nashville Public Library and a member of the Vanderbilt University of the Board of Trust. Mary was a member of the Colonial Dames of America and of the Junior League of Nashville. She was a member of the board of the Girl Scout Council of Nashville and Davidson County for years and was president from 1951-56.

Their sons Charles III and Anthony D. inherited Bonaventure. About 1982, the family tried to develop the surrounding land as a cluster development, but the effort did not pan out. They sold the property to Fred Webber, a realtor and developer, who sold off 14 homes with 1 acre lots. The development retained the Bonaventure Place name while the home was not kept. Webber was a prolific developer in the area with success with Whitehall, Glouster Square, Peach Blossom, Sugar Tree, and Hillwood Esates communities. The Trabue family remained in Nashville. See Honeywood

Sources:

Nashville Pikes Vol. 3 150 Years Along Harding Pike, p. 183

Belle Meade Park, p. 74