Station Camp Creek Gallatin, TN
Circa 1832.
Fairvue/ Isaac Franklin plantation is located north of Gallatin on the Nashville Road. It was built by Isaac Franklin (1789-1846), one of 5 Franklin brothers to settle and build substantial homes in the area. He split time between Fairvue, Belleview (his mansion in Natchez) and time in the north. He was a major slave trader (with nephew John Armfield in the partnership Armfield and Franklin 1828-1835) and planter.
In 1835, he left the slave trade. He owned 6 plantations in Louisiana, land in Mississippi, and 50,000 acres in Texas. He was an investor in the Nashville-Gallatin Turnpike. Fairvue is a Federal style mansion with 2,000 acres where he raised cotton, tobacco, cattle and thoroughbred horses. In 1839, Isaac married Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham (1817-1887). In 1846, Isaac died. His will provided for his children and his wife until her remarriage. Adelicia and her new husband Col. Joseph Alexander Smith (A.S.) Acklen (1816-1863) of Huntsville married in 1849 and got possession of the house and vast land holdings.
After Isaac’s death, Adelicia was for some time allegedly the wealthiest woman in America. Adelicia and Joseph began construction of their magnificent mansion in Nashville, Belmont Plantation which was finished by 1853. Fairvue remained vacant. It was sold in 1882 to Charles Reed of New York who started a racing horse operation. Reed had met Capt. James Franklin at Saratoga racing grounds and became interested in Tennessee horse racing and had acquired two horses from Harding’s Belle Meade Plantation. He was a successful entrepreneur who among other ventures ran major gambling operations. He planned to raze the mansion, but wife Ann Jane changed his mind. By the time 1897 arrived, Reed’s operation at Fairvue had about 150 brood mares.
In 1908 Reed sold the property after suffering financial distress. In 1929, investors formed the Sumner County Land Co. which operated as the Grasslands Hunting and Racing Foundation. They managed to hold two major steeplechase races in 1930 and 1931 (Grand International Steeplechase) before succumbing to the Great Depression.
In 1934, William Hatch “Will” Wemyss (1879-1973), cofounder of Jarman Shoe Company, bought the property. [Wemyss was born at Maple Shade in Gallatin.] After he married Ellen Stokes Moore in 1939, she began restoring it. In 1956, 320 acres of the property were flooded by the Old Hickory Dam project. “Miss Ellen” was a women’s suffrage advocate in the early 20th century and later focused her energies on restoration of historic homes including the Hermitage, the Bowen Campbell House Rose Mont, and Cragfont. Will died in 1973. “Miss Ellen” died in 2001.
In 1999, developers headed by Leon and Linda Moore purchased the estate for a planned community and club The Last Plantation with Fairvue as the clubhouse. Currently it is renovated as part of the Fairvue Golf and Country Club. Leon died in 2012. In 2015, wife Linda put the property on the market. NR in 1977; then withdrawn in 2005 because development damaged historic integrity. See Acklen Hall, Belmont
Jack Boucher
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