Columbia Hwy Columbia, TN
Circa 1832. 2-story red brick Georgian with front porticos 1st & 2nd floor
Hamilton Place/ Polk-Yeatman Home was built on the Columbia Hwy by Col. William Polk for his son Lucius Junius Polk (1802-1870). It was the first of the Polk plantations built on the 5,600 acre “Rattle and Snap” land, and Lucius received about 1,300 acres from his father, Col. Polk - as did his two brothers.
Polk married Rachel Jackson’s niece, Mary Jane Eastin (1810-1847) in 1832. Lucius and Mary Jane were married at the White House. In addition to being a major landholder and cotton planter in Maury Co., Lucius was also a state senator for Maury Co. in 1831. After Mary Jane died, Lucius married (Frances) Ann Erwin Polk (1823-1858) eight years later.
After her parents’ deaths, their daughter, Mary Brown Polk Yeatman (1835-1890), and her husband Col. Henry Clay Yeatman (1831-1910) bought Hamilton Place and lived there. They wed in 1858. Henry was the brother of Thomas and Jane Erwin Yeatman of Nashville who had a mansion near Broadway and Eighth Ave. After his brother died, Jane remarried to John Bell, an attorney and the 1860 Constitutional Party presidential candidate. Henry was a businessman and commercial agent. He purchased an interest in Cumberland Iron Works in 1852. The business was heavily damaged by Federal forces in the Civil War and not in service by 1878. During the Civil War, he was aide-de-camp to Gen. Leonidas Polk.
Then their son Trezavant Player Yeatman (1871-1959) and wife Mary Eastin Wharton Yeatman (1883-1970) as well as Trezavant’s sister, Jenny Bell, inherited the property and lived there through much of the twentieth century.
The next generation to own the property were Trezevant Player Yeatman (1914-1996), Henry “Harry” Clay Yeatman (1916-2003), and Mary Jane Yeatman Whiteside (1918-2001). His sister Jenny Bell Yeatman resided there as well. Mary Jane wed Joseph Lister Whiteside (1914-2010) in 1946, and they resided on property. Harry was a biology professor, and after 1950, lived with his family at the University of the South, Sewanee. The children sold the home and much of the estate in 1970.
It was then bought by Mr. and Mrs. Leslie Whitley. In 1990, it was owned by Fred H. and Kelli Gillham. Gilliam is a major stockholder of Tennessee Industrial Machinery Co. Inc. (TIMCO). Gillham was also involved with purchasing and restoring the old Columbia train depot. They spent five years restoring the home. In 1995, they sold it to Don Davis. He was chairman and CEO of Touchstone Inc. of Brentwood. Hamilton Place was named after Lucius’ brother Hamilton who died in 1831 while studying at Yale. NRHP 1973. See Ashwood (Leonidas, Andrew), Rattle and Snap/ Oakwood Hall (George), Elm Springs
Sources:
Historic Maury County Places and People
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