Rattle and Snap was built in Greek Revival style in 1845 in Columbia by George Washington Polk (1817-1892) and Sally L. Hilliard Polk (1819-1894).
Photo from Tennessee Encyclopedia
They married in 1840. His father, William Polk, was a North Carolina resident who fought in the Revolutionary War. Afterward, he became Surveyor-General of the Middle District of TN. He amassed a tremendous amount of land in Tennessee through his efforts. By 1819, he owned 100,000 acres in Tennessee. Polk’s second wife Sarah Hawkins Polk arranged for over 5,600 acres to be held for George. It is reputed to be the largest mansion in Maury County and one of the largest in TN. The mansion is located at 1522 North Main Street on U.S. Route 43/ Andrew Jackson Highway in Mt. Pleasant. The land was won by his father William Polk in a card game called “Rattle & Snap,” from the governor of North Carolina.
Afterward, his sons moved to Maury County and settled while building large homes on portions of the 5,648 acre plantation. His other brothers also got large tracts: Lucius Jurnick Polk built Hamilton Place, Leonidas Polk built Ashwood, and Rufus King Polk built Westwood, and Andrew Polk purchased Ashwood later and enlarged it. Hamilton Place adjoined Rattle and Snap. Between the two properties, the brothers built St. John’s Episcopal Church. Leonidas went on to become an Episcopal bishop. The family went bankrupt after the Civil War, and the property was sold to Joseph John (JJ) Granberry (1838-1882) in 1867.
His wife was Susan Ann Brown Granberry (1843-?). The Granberry family lived there for fifty years. They renamed the property Oakwood Hall. Afterward, in 1919, it was sold to farmers William (W.P.) Pillow Ridley and W.A. Dale, and for years, tenant farmers resided at the mansion. Evidently, hay was stored in the mansion and chickens roamed freely.
Sarah Ann Jewell, a Ridley heir - parents were William Pillow (W.P.) and Eva C. Ridley, and her husband Charles bought out the Dale heirs in 1950. She and her husband owned Bethel Place also.
In 1953, Oliver Morgan Babcock, Jr. (1916-1987) and Jane D. Williams Babcock (1916-1994) bought and partially restored the mansion. They married in 1940. In the 1950s, Oliver was president and general manager of Ruhm Phosphate & Chemical Co. They left, and Oliver died in Florida.
Next in 1973, Mr. and Mrs William B. Allen purchased the property. In 1977, William and Emily Frost bought the home & plantation but soon found themselves in financial struggles. Then in 1979 it was purchased by Amon Carter Evans, former publisher of The Tennessean. He bought it for $1M with court approval because of the Frost’s bankruptcy. Per a news article, the Evans spent more than six million dollars renovating and saving Rattle and Snap which hurt their fortune. In 1988, the Evans put Rattle N Snap on the market. A bank foreclosed on the property in 2002, but the next year, Amon and his wife Denise, reached a temporary agreement.
In 2005, Dr. Michael Kaslow and wife Bobbi from California bought it with 500 acres. Dr. Kaslow had practiced ophthalmology in California, retired, and returned to his home roots in the area. They won renovation awards in 2015. NRHP 1971 See Hamilton Place, Ashwood Hall, Westwood.
Sources:
The Story of Rattle and Snap: How Too Much Money Saved the Most Beautiful Plantation Home in the South
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