The home of the “Father of Tennessee History,” Tusculum farm was owned by Judge John Haywood (1753-1826) and Martha Ann Edwards Haywood (1764-?).
They built their homestead about 1807 off Nolensville Rd. Judge Haywood’s home was about seven miles southeast from Nashville, and there is a monument at the Tusculum Hills Baptist Church noting the home was located nearby. [Note: Multiple sources write that Tusculum was located to the east on Murfreesboro Rd. incorrectly.] The church is very near the intersection of Nolensville Rd. and McMurray Dr. Born and raised in North Carolina, he showed a great legal mind early in his career. In 1791, he was named Attorney General of North Carolina and in 1793 was appointed to the Supreme Court of North Carolina. John Overton encouraged Haywood to move from North Carolina to land he owned in the Middle Tennessee area which he did sometime between 1802-1807.
He built a couple “offices” on his property and trained young men in what was one of the first “law schools” in the region. He was elected to Tennessee’s Supreme Court of Errors and Appeals (1816-1826). Very interested in history, Haywood was described by some writers as “Tennessee’s Earliest Historian”, and he wrote multiple items including the Civil and Political History of the State of Tennessee (1823). Judge Haywood also owned 350 acres in Rutherford Co. In 1823, Haywood County was named in his honor.
In 1891, J.N. Calhoun was Tusculum’s owner. The Haywood and Tusculum names are remembered by several landmarks: Haywood Heights, Haywood Lane, Haywood Acres, Haywood Hills, Tusculum Hills Baptist Church, and Tusculum Elementary School. The name Tusculum comes from Haywood’s reading the works of Virgil.
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