801 Curtiswood Lane Nashville, TN
Circa 1916.
(James) Granberry Jackson, Sr.(1873-1940) and Margaret Lytton Early Jackson (1874-1938) built the home on Curtiswood Lane off Franklin Rd. about 1916. They were basically backyard neighbors with the Wills' Far Hills estate (current TN Governor's Residence).
Granberry held an engineering degree. He formed the Jackson Phosphate Company in Mount Pleasant in 1900. (Earlier, Granberry had built a house in Columbia at 209 Pleasant St. prior to moving years later to Nashville.) He was president of Natural Phosphate Company in 1909 and later Chief Engineer for International Agricultural Corp. in New York City.
Granberry, Sr. had a stroke in 1937 so Granberry, Jr. and his wife Henrietta Weaver Jackson moved to the home. After Margaret died, sons, Granberry, Jr. and John Early, sold Greystones to Anna Russell (Mrs. Dempsey) Weaver in 1938. She had to leave her home, Colemere, because it was condemned for construction of the Nashville Metropolitan Airport.
In the 1940s, Anna’s daughter, Anna Russell Weaver Farrell (1912-1960), lived at the house with her daughter, Anna Russell “Pinkie” Farrell Morrow (1935-1979). “Pinkie” had divorced her alcoholic husband, Herbert Farrell, Jr. (Herbert, Jr.’s father was Farrell, Sr. of Overton Hall/ Crieve Hall.)
About 1952, Greystones was sold to Webb Michael Pierce (1921-1991), a country music star and his wife Audrey Greisman Pierce. (Pierce’s first wife was Betty Jane Lewis Pierce, 1891-1951). That year, Pierce came to Nashville from Louisiana and replaced Hank Williams on the Grand Ole Opry. Very quickly, he became the most popular country singer and sold more singles in the 1950s than any other country star and was known for his flamboyant lifestyle. By the mid 50s, Pierce had a guitar-shaped pool built at his home and, inaugurating the country tourism home tours, invited busloads of fan tours came by to see it and him. Pierce’s neighbors, not appreciating the bus traffic, forbad bus tours from the neighborhood. In 1954, along with Jim Denny, he started Cedarwood Publishing. It was named for the greystones used in construction.
In 2019, Greystones was owned by Brenda and Colin V. Reed. Colin is chairman/ CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties and has been since 2015. He has been a board member of Resortquest International, chairman of Jcc Holding Co., and a board member of Bass Pro Inc. See Colemere
Sources:
Nashville Pikes Vol 1, pp. 149-151
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