Photo by rossograph
Oakley is located at 1711 Nashville Pike in Gallatin.
It is a 2 story Gothic Revival brick house which overlooks Old Hickory Lake now (originally the Cumberland River). The Gothic Revival style is very rare in Middle Tennessee. Dr. John Washington Franklin (1819-1905) had begun a medical practice in Memphis in 1842 and lived there with his first wife, Florida Mercer Noel Franklin (1826-1848). They wed 1842. After her death in 1849, Dr. Franklin married Sarah Frances Baber Franklin (1831-1906) and moved to her area of Sumner Co. Sarah’s parents were Thomas and Lucy Baber of Bellemont and sister of Washington Baber of Kennesaw. Dr. Franklin’s grandparents, Capt. James Franklin and Mary Lauderdale Franklin, had been one of the founding settlers of what became Sumner Co. and then some of the wealthiest citizens and largest landowners in the area. Mary’s grandfather was James Maitland, 8th earl of Lauderdale and her brother was William M. Lauderdale who built a fort in 1838 in the area that became Ft. Lauderdale. They built the home in 1852 on 162 acres.
At one point, Louis A. Green (1836-?) and Eliza Key Green were owners. They married in 1860. Louis was a native of Gallatin. Louis was a merchant and farmer. After Eliza died, he married Ella Green.
In 1985, Frank T. and Dorothy Gee bought Oakley with almost 2 acres. He is a local artist NRHP 1985 See also: Bellemont/ Foxland Hall, Kennesaw
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