2555 Hwy 99/ Old Salem Pike Murfreesboro, TN
Circa 1840. 2-story Greek Revival style home
Photo by Kenneth Everett
Boxwood/ Thomas J.B. Turner House was built by Thomas Joseph Blanks (J.B.) Turner (1818-1878) and Sarah Amanda Wilson Jetton Turner (1820-1884).
The Greek Revival house is located on Old Salem Pike in Murfreesboro. The Turners married in 1838. Turner was a large landowner and slaveholder with 1,100 acres. The Turners had another large farm in Mississippi. After Thomas died, Sarah inherited the house.
After Sarah’s death six years later in 1884, the property was sold to Joseph Jones who sold it the next year to James Johnson. The Johnson family resided at Boxwood for about half a century.
In 1931, Boxwood was inherited by his daughter Florence Johnson Sawrie and her husband Henry Sperry Sawrie (1878-1956) who kept it for 4 years. They married in 1902. Sawrie owned Henry S. Sawrie food products company. He also served as a bank director. The Sawrie family moved to west Nashviile to the Belle Meade area at 110 Lynwood Terrace.
They sold the property in 1935 to Jesse DeWitt Brown (1890-1971) and Alice Vaughn Brown (1892-1987).
In 1944, William H. Evans purchased the estate.
His family owned Boxwood until 1960 when the house was sold to Ruth Neal Garrett, R.N. (1917-2007) and Dr. John Jackson Garrett, Jr. (1912-2000), a Rockvale physician. Ruth graduated from the Vanderbilt School of Nursing, and Dr. Garrett practiced for many years in the Rockvale area - southeast of Murfreesboro. Evidently, Dr. Garrett’s brother, Robert, was a long-time beloved physician as well to the east in Eagleville.
In 1968, Jerry M. Stembridge (1938-2014) (stage name Chip Young) and Diane Parker-Stembridge purchased Boxwood. He was a well-known session guitarist and became a record producer in the music industry: the guest house became a recording studio(Young 'Un Sound) in 1968 and a swimming pool was built. Per local historian, Denise Carlton, Elvis Presley was a regular visitor to Boxwood and Strembridge recorded some of Elvis' songs. In 1956, he played on Presley's second album Elvis. A few years later, in 1975, Stembridge started Young 'Un South in Nashville when he purchased Monument Recording Studio. Their son-in-law is local musician/ radio personality Bobby Bare. At some point, the Stembridge moved to the Green Hills area.
In 1981, ownership was changed to Hubert Laws McCullough, Jr. (1929-2019) and Clara “Dene” Branham McCullough bought it. They wed in 1951. McCullough was an engineer and businessman who was affiliated with several companies in contracting and construction with the McCullough name. He also served in several state government roles: Commissioner of General Services and Commissioner of Finance under Gov. Lamar Alexander. The McCulloughs owned Boxwood with 2 acres in 1994. The couple raised beef cattle at Boxwood.
About 2014, Arnold (1929-2019) and Marie Williams were been the owners. At some point, they put the property ownership into a corporation headed by their daughter Missy Williams. The name of the home is derived from the boxwoods that Turner planted along the walkway to the front entrance. NR 1984
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