3021 Lealand Lane Nashville, TN
Circa 1843. 2-story white clapboard home in Greek Revival style
Photo by Www.78
Sunnyside/ Lee Monte/ Idlewild was located on Middle Franklin Pike (now Granny White Pike) on about 38 acres. The current address in on Lealand Lane which simply runs along the east side of the current Sevier Park. The property is now on the southeast portion of the revitalized 12South neighborhood.
Built about 1843 for Mary Childress Benton Douglas Sevier (1797-1881), widow of Jesse Benton. Benton was the brother of Thomas Hart Benton, a politician. Mary was a first cousin of Sarah Childress Polk, wife of Pres. Polk. Jesse was in a duel with William Carroll, the future governor of Tennessee and wounded him in 1813. Shortly afterward, Jesse and Thomas got into a heated argument with their friend Gen. Andrew Jackson, and Jesse shot and nearly killed Jackson. Because of the controversy and turmoil, the Benton brothers had to leave Tennessee. Jesse and Mary went to Louisiana and then Missouri where he had a great political career. Mary's mother-in-law was Ann "Nancy" Gooch Benton. Mary's niece was Minerva Hulme Douglass who wed Gen. Kelsey Harris Douglass. He was a U.S. general based in Texas and later a success Texas merchant and a founder of the Texas Republic. After his death, Minerva lived with aunt Mary.
Her husband, Col. Zeke B. "Jesse" Benton, was a lawyer and real estate speculator who had interest in numerous properties across South. After his death in 1791, it took almost a decade to settle his estate. Among other parcels of land, Nancy got 2,500 acres well south of Nashville to which she moved her family in 1800. Originally, the area was called Bentonville, then Hillsboro (after their home county in North Carolina0, and later Leiper's Fork. Because there was another Hillsboro in Tennessee, when a federal post office was established in the area, the name change to Leiper's Fork was made.]
After his death, his wife, Mary, returned to Nashville and in 1852 purchased property and built Sunnyside with its 38 acres. Mary lived on the property with her widowed niece, Minerva Douglass and Minerva’s 2 children Henry and Mary. Mary Douglass named the home Sunnyside because of the bright, open property. Mary Benton Douglass married Col. Theodore Francis “Frank” or “TF” Sevier from Kentucky, in 1859, and they resided at Sunnyside until the Civil War. After the war, the Douglass family resided at Sewanee, TN where Frank was an organizer of the University of the South, a math instructor, and an administrator.
She stayed at the property for much of the Civil War but before selling it to John Armstrong Shute. He was a former justice of the peace in Davidson County. In 1865, Shute gave Sunnyside to his daughter, Jeannette Shute Childress, whose husband was Mrs. Benton’s nephew, Stephen W. Childress.
The Childress family increased the property size to 140 acres. They renamed the home, Lee Monte, in honor of Robert E. Lee. In 1875, they sold Lee Monte.
In 1882 Dr. Lleweyllen Garnet (L.G.) Noel (1851-1927) and his first wife Nannie Folwell Noel (1861-1897) purchased the property at auction and renamed the property Idlewild for her mother’s home in Memphis. They wed in 1881. Dr. Noel was a renowned Nashville dentist who taught at Vanderbilt and served as chair of the dental pathology department. He was a past president of the American Dental Association and the Southern Dental Association. After Nannie’s death, Dr. Noel married Augusta Jonnard (1869-?) in 1902.
In 1927, Col. Granville Sharp Townsend Sevier (1869-1944) and Marion Dorothea Shainwald Sevier (1888-1928) bought 20.5 acres and the home from the Noel family and brought his mother back to Sunnyside. Col. Sevier’s mother renamed the home Sunnyside. He was a Nashville philanthropist, former diplomat, and a commander of Fort Shafter at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After his retirement, he and Marion returned to Nashville.
After Col. Sevier’s death, the City of Nashville bought the house and 20 acres. Part of the land was used to create a park, and Sevier Park opened in 1948. Park Director Jack Sprouse and wife Maryanne lived there until 1987. Now it is occupied by Metro Historical Commission offices. NRHP 1974
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