current 1645 Tyne BL Nashville, TN
Circa 1819. 2-story log and frame home
Earliest surviving Compton family home in Nashville area
Henry Compton (1784-1873) and Sarah "Sallie" Cox Compton (1795-1868) wed in 1815. Sarah was the daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Cox, some of the earliest Davidson Co. settlers. Compton went down from Kentucky to Nashville, TN about 1807. Compton was a quartermaster with Andrew Jackson's troops in the War of 1812. After the War, he purchased a 160-acre tract from his in-law Cox family in the way-future Green Hills/ Forest Hills near Otter Creek area. Henry and Sarah eventually increased their lands to about 350 acres. The home address was originally on Compton Rd. (current Hillsboro Rd.) and stretched between Compton Rd. and Middle Franklin PK (Hillsboro Rd. & Granny White PK). It was part of the Compton family lands that totaled over 1,000 acres in the area south of Nashville. The Henry Compton portion was grown to about 400 acres by 1860 with farmland and grassland.
Fortunately, during the Civil War, the Compton land was not as hurt by foragers because of its more remote location off the Hillsboro Pike on a ridge. Their son, Philip returned from Arkansas and the War to the homestead. Philip N. Compton (1826-1918) and Lucy Jane Turner Compton (1831-1918) resided on the farm until about 1918. Ownership until 1935 is unclear.
Editors note: A relative, James Compton, owned 5,00 acres in the future western Green Hills from Hillsboro Rd. area and along what became Abbott-Martin Rd.
Until about 1912, 21st Ave. South and Hillsboro Rd. was called the Compton Rd.; Shy's Hill was called Compton's Hill. Shy's Hill was renamed for a local Southern Confederate officer about 1912.
Over a century later, William McAlister Blackie (1904-1991) and Martha Van Meter "Van Meter" Proctor Blackie (1903-1991) bought the property in 1935. They used it as a country home. Blackie was executive vice-president and a director with Genesco. He was also named CEO of Genesco for a time about 1976.
Sources:
Historic Homes in Forest Hills - An Architectural Survey, Thomason Assoc., 2000, p. 224
Nashville: A Short History & Selected Buildings
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