By 1928, life was going well for Thomas J. Tyne.
His company, National Life and Accident Insurance Company, was doing well, and it had founded WSM Radio in 1925. In 1928, Tyne bought the home and estate of J. Wilson Forsyth (at the current location of 5819 Hillsboro Rd.). The Forsyth place sat well out in the country on Hillsboro Rd., on the outskirts of the old Belle Meade Plantation and just a mile or so south of what would become Green Hills.
The property had actually been built about 1910 by Mrs. H. L. Baker, and the country home was inhabited by Mrs. Baker and her daughter and husband, Bessie Baker Forsyth and J. Wilson Forsyth. They had previously moved from Royal Oaks on Harding Rd. when William and Emma Mai Cummins purchased their home; subsequently, eighteen years later, they were bought out again.
Afterward, the Baker/ Forsyth trio seems to have moved to the newly developed Belle Meade area. The Forsyth estate contributed 50 acres of land to the new Belle Meade Country Club and a Belle Meade street is named Forsythe Place.
In 1928, Thomas James Tyne (1868-1936) and Jane Ratterman Tyne (1872-1939) bought the home and the substantial country estate. The Tynes significantly expanded the home (1928-1932) and the farm on what was eventually 1,000 acres on Hillsboro Pike. The Longleat name comes from the 16th century Longleat estate where Thynn descendents still reside near Somerset, England. The Tynes bought the J.W. Carter farm that fronted Hillsboro Road to the east. The property at one point extended from several hundred yards south of the southwest corner of Tyne and Hillsboro Road to Hemingway and west to Highway 100. Jane’s parents were George and Ellenore Ratterman of G. H. Ratterman House. Tyne was a prominent attorney who represented Du Pont interests in the area. He had been a principal with Pat (P.M.) Estes in Tyne and Estes in 1924 and with Ernest Pillow in PIllow and Tyne. He was noticed after doing legal work for the National Sick and Accident Association and was invited to join a group of investors which bought the company; thus Thomas was a founder, board member and V.P./ General Counsel of National Life and Accident Insurance Company and a director of American National Bank. When National LIfe went public, the profits from the new share brought a windfall to Tyne and other investors. [According to family history, local contractor R.E. Martin saved the life of one of the Tyne sons. Grateful, Tyne sold Martin some acreage across Hillsboro Rd. where Martin built a 2-story Tudor home Castlewood in 1931.] Only 4 years after the renovation, Thomas passed away. After Thomas died, Jane remained there until her death three years later in 1939.
Their daughter Elleanore Tyne Barry (1899-1971) and her husband William “Bill” Francis Barry, Jr. (1900-1967) married in 1935 and moved to Longleat from 1939 until 1971. Bill was a lawyer and a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives 1923-27, Speaker of the House 1925-27. After Bill died, Elleanore remained until her death. They had lived nearby at the top of Crater Hill Drive.
Then, Elleanore’s brother George Henry Tyne (1905-1976) and his wife Roberta Crew Tyne moved to the property. They wed in 1955. George worked with his father in their law firm Tyne, Peebles, Henry and Tyne. He was elected in 1936 as Assistant General Counsel of Nashville Life and on its board. He also co-founded the Nashville Record in 1936. He served in World War II in a variety of legal roles.
About 1981, Clay T. Jackson and his wife Catharine “Cathy” Jane Tyne Jackson took ownership of Longleat. Cathy is the daughter of George and Roberta Tyne. Clay was a principal and president with Cooper, Love & Jackson insurance and now senior vice president and regional president with BB&T Cooper, Love & Jackson since 2003. At some point, a road was cut through their farm and land sold north of the road which was named Tyne BL. Tyne and West Tyne is a long route connecting Highway 100 with Franklin Pike. NRHP 1984 See also Castlewood, Royal Oaks, G.H. Ratterman House
Sources:
Nashville Pikes, Vol II, pp. 154-159
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