The second Woodstock was built in the 1830s by brothers, Joseph Woods (1779-1859) and Robert Woods.
It was located near Middle Franklin Rd. (now near 2300 8th Ave. South at the intersection of Cathey and White Aves.). It was a 2 story Greek Revival mansion with several porticos and stretched out about 3,500 acres between Franklin and Nolensville Pikes. Joseph was involved in Nashville civic and business affairs. During the Civil War, Joseph was kind to a wounded Federal officer, and in return, the officer prevented a lot of destruction to the Woodstock property.
The home was sold out of the Woods family after the war, and for a number of years, fell into disrepair. [The Woods brothers also owned Westwood mansion with their families earlier in the 1800s.]
About 1903, James Cowdon Bradford (1852-1914) and his wife, Sarah Polk Jones Bradford (1860-1938), purchased the property. They married in 1888. Sarah was the daughter of the Hon. Lucius and Mary Ann Polk of Hamilton Place in Columbia and related to the Polk and Donelson families. Bradford’s grandfather was Capt. John Bradford whose prominent family had successful plantations in Louisiana and Texas. James began working as an attorney and became a partner with Gen. Gates P. Thruston. Bradford served as city attorney for a couple years and then put together several companies to form Nashville Railway and Light Co. He was also involved with the Vanderbilt case to separate from the Methodist Church and worked with the Waverly Land Company. The Bradfords named their home Woodstock in honor of his grandfather’s former Woodstock home on Granny White Pike. Sarah established gardens and they became generous hosts. Sarah was very active in Nashville’s Junior League. In the 1920s, she gave a portion of Woodstock land for the first Junior League Home for Crippled Children.
In 1935, Sarah left Woodstock and moved to the Washington Apartments until her death 3 years later. About 1971, the Home moved to Vanderbilt, and the Junior League leased the property to the state of Tennessee.
In 2014, Centerstone built and used a new building there. In Ridley Wills’ Nashville Pikes Vol. 1, he notes that travelers on I-65 north can see the massive white oak that remains in the former Woodstock back lawn. For a time, Woodstock housed a corporate headquarters of a gas company. About 30 years later, in the 1960s, the rest of the property on Bradford was sold and the house demolished. Several new businesses were put up on the property. The family is remembered by nearby Bradford Ave. See Woodstock (1)/ Zenaida, Westwood
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