Belmont Mansion

06/27/2023

Belmont Mansion on TikTok

Thrifting a Historic Painting! Mark Brown explains how the Belmont Mansion found a rare painting of Issac Franklin while thrifting with his mother.

Check out Belmont Mansion's video.

06/21/2023

Saturday, June 24th, Executive Director Myers Brown will be guiding a group through two of Middle Tennessee's most important 19th century historic sites - the James K. Polk Home and The Athenaeum.

Join us for this fun bus trip to Columbia, Tennessee. We'll see both sites and the Polk Home's temporary exhibit, “Shaping a Nation: Tennessee Volunteers and the Mexican American War.”

Tickets can be purchased through the mansion website or by calling, 615-460-5459.

06/10/2023

If you are still searching for a unique Father’s Day gift then you should stop by! We have locally made bourbon brittle from Olive and Sinclair chocolates; our own private label of coffee, Acklen Roast; a standing leather eyeglass case so Dad can’t lose his glasses at home; and a variety of new and gently used history books for bookworms.
Remember, you don’t have to purchase a ticket to shop!

05/26/2023

Want to know more? Want to purchase tickets? Just follow the link here, https://www.belmontmansion.com/ticket-options

05/17/2023

Mark Brown received a surprise today - A Certificate of Merit from the Tennessee Historical Commission was presented to Belmont Mansion for the preservation of the Grand Salon ceiling.

Every May, which is National Preservation Month, this awards program offers the public an opportunity to give thanks and recognition to those who are working to revitalize Tennessee’s historic places.

It was an exciting morning for staff and an appreciated acknowledgement of the restoration of the Grand Salon ceiling, a tremendous undertaking for the Belmont Mansion Association. Grace Abernethy is the artist who brought this idea to life. Check out her videos of this project and more here, Grace Abernethy

04/21/2023

04/15/2023

Grace Abernethy has been an integral part of the restoration of Belmont Mansion. Her unique expertise with faux painting and faux graining can be seen in her work throughout the house. In recognition of her preservation work, Grace was recently featured in the lead article of Clemson University’s magazine, Clemson World. It’s a well-deserved accolade of her artistic and preservation achievements!

https://clemson.world/

Built in 1853, the Belmont Mansion was home to one of America's wealthiest, smartest women, Adelicia Acklen.

03/22/2023

Heloise Cenas

Teaching was one of the few respectable professions for single white women in the 19th century. When Hillary Cenas, Heloise’s father, died in 1859, he likely left his widow and children without a means of support. To provide for themselves, the women of the family took up teaching.

Heloise Cenas became a tutor for the Acklen children in 1864, before returning to New Orleans to help her mother start a school in 1865. Later known as the Cenas Institute, this school would eventually help prepare single white women to enter women’s colleges like Newcomb, which was founded in 1886.

Heloise’s specialty was in teaching literature and languages. Later she moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where she developed the social connections necessary to secure a position leading her own school. Heloise never married, and she often spent summers with her friends at a cottage she owned in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. She died in 1911 at the age of 74.

Image courtesy of the Louisiana State Museum.

Built in 1853, the Belmont Mansion was home to one of America's wealthiest, smartest women, Adelicia Acklen.

03/15/2023

, March 15, 1817, Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham was born into privilege. Her life was unlike that of most Americans, and yet the events of her life mimicked those shared by many 19th century women.

In 1817, the country was still young, as was Nashville. Here civic buildings, churches and schools were brand new or under development to support the life of citizens. For women, marriage at an early age was an expected norm. It was quickly followed by pregnancy and childbirth which were accompanied by real danger for both mother and child. Adelicia carried 9 pregnancies to term, birthed 10 live children, and buried 6 of them in infancy or early childhood. She married three times after being widowed twice.

This is one of the last photographs taken of Adelicia Cheatham. In it you can see the toll those experiences and the years had taken. While hers was a life of privilege, her journey as a wife and mother mirrored the experiences shared by most 19th century American women.

03/11/2023

From Nashville’s founding in 1780, education always played an important role in the city. Within 5 years, Davidson Academy was created to educate boys. Fifteen years later an academy for girls opened which would eventually become the Nashville Female Academy -- the school Adelicia Hayes attended. The focus on education and schooling in Nashville earned the city the moniker the “Athens of the South.”

During this period, most schools for girls and young women were ‘finishing’ schools where they learned skills such as sewing, embroidery, drawing, painting, and music in order to prepare wealthy white women for their place in society as a wife, mother, and hostess. The Nashville Female Academy had a more academic focus and included courses in History, Geography and Science. However, girls were not expected to pursue further schooling after graduation.

The Nashville Female Academy hosted students from across the south until the Civil War. The war forced the school to close, and it was never able to successfully reopen.

Images: Nashville Female Academy, courtesy of TSLA. Part of a page of music Adelicia Hayes transcribed and signed, likely while at the school in 1833, part of the Belmont Mansion collection.

03/04/2023

It is a beautiful out after yesterday's storms. The mansion has power and is open for tours.

03/01/2023

Betsy Baker was born into slavery around 1825 in Virginia. While still in her late teens, she was sold to Isaac Franklin of Fairvue Plantation, forever separating her from her family. At Fairvue she married John Baker who was also enslaved by Isaac Franklin. Freedom might have seemed like an elusive dream, but Betsy and six of her nine surviving children would live to see emancipation. Following the Civil War, her family was one of many formerly enslaved families who formed their own community called Peach Valley in Sumner County. It included a church and a school. Education was an important goal for many newly freed Blacks having been denied it during slavery. Betsy never learned to read or write but at least one of her children, Mark, could due in part to the support of his Black community.

Photograph: Betsy Baker from African-American Life in Sumner County, Tennessee, courtesy of the author.

For more on Sumner County history see the publication, African-American Life in Sumner County, Tennessee. http://ow.ly/bhb750N6ul4

02/26/2023

Immediately after the Civil War, some formerly enslaved Blacks became politicians to advocate for themselves and their communities. Brutus Jackson (ca. 1816 -1869), once enslaved at Belmont, was one of these people. He participated in the first Colored Convention of Arkansas, which met in November of 1865 to ensure that the state and Federal government would grant free Black men equality and voting rights. (At this time, women also did not have the right to vote.) In the Convention’s words, “we have earned it, and therefore, we deserve it; we have bought it with our blood, and therefore it is of priceless value to us .”

After Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws restricted Black representation and voting rights until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

More About the Colored Convention: http://ow.ly/irnl50N2hKE.

02/26/2023

Belmont Mansion

Built in 1853, the Belmont Mansion was home to one of America's wealthiest, smartest women, Adelicia Acklen.

02/24/2023

Immediately after the Civil War, some formerly enslaved Blacks became politicians to advocate for themselves and their communities. Brutus Jackson (ca. 1816 -1869), once enslaved at Belmont, was one of these people. He participated in the first Colored Convention of Arkansas, which met in November of 1865 to ensure that the state and Federal government would grant free Black men equality and voting rights. (At this time, women also did not have the right to vote.) In the Convention’s words, “we have earned it, and therefore, we deserve it; we have bought it with our blood, and therefore it is of priceless value to us .”

After Reconstruction, Jim Crow laws restricted Black representation and voting rights until the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

More About the Colored Convention: http://ow.ly/irnl50N2hKE.

Built in 1853, the Belmont Mansion was home to one of America's wealthiest, smartest women, Adelicia Acklen.

02/20/2023

Today as we recognize American presidents, it is fitting to discuss the connection between Adelicia Acklen and President James K. Polk and First Lady Sarah Childress Polk. While Adelicia knew Andrew Jackson and was related to Rutherford B. Hayes, she was extremely close to the Polks, especially Sarah. At the end of his presidency, President Polk returned to his home in Nashville. It is believed the Polks attended Joseph and Adelicia Acklen’s wedding in May 1849. This was among the last public appearances of the former president. He contracted cholera and died on June 15, 1849.

Adelicia and Mrs. Polk remained close friends and often visited at Polk Place in downtown Nashville or at Belmont Mansion and attended church services together at First Presbyterian Church (now Downtown Presbyterian). Their friendship endured until Adelicia’s death in 1887. Surprisingly, Mrs. Polk, seventeen years older than Adelicia, lived until 1891.

Photograph: Clock presented to Joseph and Adelicia Acklen as a wedding gift by President James K. Polk and First Lady Sarah Childress Polk in May 1849.

Photograph: This portrait depicts Adelicia just before her marriage to Joseph Acklen in 1849.

Photograph: Daguerreotype of President and First Lady Polk, circa 1849. Courtesy of the Polk Memorial Association.

02/20/2023

Today as we recognize American presidents, it is fitting to discuss the connection between Adelicia Acklen and President James K. Polk and First Lady Sarah Childress Polk. While Adelicia knew Andrew Jackson and was related to Rutherford B. Hayes, she was extremely close to the Polks, especially Sarah. At the end of his presidency, President Polk returned to his home in Nashville. It is believed the Polks attended Joseph and Adelicia Acklen’s wedding in May 1849. This was among the last public appearances of the former president. He contracted cholera and died on June 15, 1849.

Adelicia and Mrs. Polk remained close friends and often visited at Polk Place in downtown Nashville or at Belmont Mansion and attended church services together at First Presbyterian Church (now Downtown Presbyterian). Their friendship endured until Adelicia’s death in 1887. Surprisingly, Mrs. Polk, seventeen years older than Adelicia, lived until 1891.

Photograph: Clock presented to Joseph and Adelicia Acklen as a wedding gift by President James K. Polk and First Lady Sarah Childress Polk in May 1849.

Photograph: This portrait depicts Adelicia just before her marriage to Joseph Acklen in 1849.

Photograph: Daguerreotype of President and First Lady Polk, circa 1849. Courtesy of the Polk Memorial Association.

Built in 1853, the Belmont Mansion was home to one of America's wealthiest, smartest women, Adelicia Acklen.

02/17/2023

Belmont Mansion was the center of a large summer estate. An adjacent farm produced food for those living here. Contrary to popular myth, Belmont was never a plantation; but its size and extensive gardens depended upon the labor of many people. Prior to the Civil War enslaved Black men, women and children, working alongside European immigrants, were that labor force. Enslaved Black people were known to find subtle ways to resist slavery like faking illness, working slower, or breaking tools. While this resistance might seem difficult to document, Joseph Acklen specifically ordered his Louisiana overseers to check on those who reported as sick (to ensure they really were ill) and required all tools be branded with the initials of the person who used them. The grubbing hoe pictured here was found during an archaeological survey of the Belmont grounds.

For more information about all the people who kept the Belmont estate operational, check out our virtual tour here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/6b03d1da03e44c3fa141a82d58036ca0

02/03/2023

Today Freedom Plaza served one of its intended purposes - to be a place of reflection and remembrance. The Belmont Black Student Association led a group of students, faculty and staff from across campus in a peaceful vigil for Tyre Nichols. Though not a member of the Belmont community, Tyre's murder speaks to this community and the need to listen, to go forth with responsibility for each other and to continue the march to make the world a safer place.

Freedom Plaza and Fountain commemorate the lives of those who lived as enslaved people at Belmont Mansion. To learn more about the people whose lives were enslaved at Belmont Mansion, please visit the mansion website, http://ow.ly/CkWV50MJv69
Belmont University Black Student Association

02/03/2023

Visiting Belmont Mansion is about the house - and the people who occupied it. Come take a tour and experience for yourself the care taken in restoring and presenting this unique piece of 19th century Nashville history.

12/26/2022

It's snowy; it's icy. Belmont Mansion is closed, today, December 26, 2022.

12/11/2022

It's not too late to make plans to see local author Jim Hoobler at the Belmont Mansion this Tuesday!

Jim will be signing copies of his book: "This Used to Be Nashville" at the Member's Shopping Night from 5-7 pm. Join us and get a signed copy of your own!

In addition to the book signing, guests will enjoy 20% off the entire gift shop as well as light holiday snacks provided while browsing. We look forward to seeing you stop by 🎁 😊

11/29/2022

The glory if fall color was on display this morning!

11/28/2022

Join Belmont Mansion's Executive Director, Myers Brown, on a focused tour of the tumultuous era of the Civil War and the impact on the families, grounds, and structures of Belmont Mansion.

Central to the story is the Tennessee Campaign of 1864 which culminated in the Battle of Nashville and saw Belmont serve as the headquarters of the Fourth Corps of the Federal Army.

This first-of-its-kind tour will also include an overview of the Belmont Mansion story, a brief walking tour of Union-occupied Belmont grounds before touring the house, a free copy of Fourteen Days of Waiting: Belmont Mansion Before the Battle of Nashville, and much, much more.

The first tour will launch on December 1st-- the anniversary of when the Union Army arrived in Nashville prior to the Battle of Nashville. Offered at 1:30 p.m. on Dec 1st, Dec 8th and Dec 15th the tour last about an hour and a half.

As a key witness to the Battle, Belmont is the perfect stage for this in-depth exploration of Nashville's past. We are thrilled to offer this tour and tell our critical part of this story.

11/21/2022

With great sadness and deep respect, we share the news that Dr. Albert Wardin, retired Belmont University professor, noted Baptist historian and a man instrumental in the preservation and restoration of Belmont Mansion, passed away last week. He is pictured here in May 2017 when the Metro Nashville Historical Commission honored him and then Belmont Mansion Executive Director Mark Brown with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their work with Belmont Mansion. With them is Bonne Crigger, who was then the President of the Belmont Mansion Association and has continued to serve the mansion in many ways.

Dr. Wardin's professional accomplishments were many, and the impact of his leadership on those he knew was significant. His legacy will be long, and he will be missed by many. Details on his life and his services, scheduled for Tuesday, November 22nd, can be found here, http://ow.ly/kyNc50LK2jr

11/18/2022

TODAY is the day - get your reservation in for Christmas Dinner from Belmont Mansion!

Whether your entertaining style is a table full of friends or an intimate dinner for two, you and Belmont Mansion can create an outstanding dinner event this Christmas season... and it all supports the restoration of the Billiard Room at Belmont Mansion!

Join us for the third annual Christmas Dinner from Belmont Mansion on December 2nd with a dinner delivered from this hearth to yours. Nashville’s celebrated chef Kristen Winston is preparing her legendary dinners packaged and prepared for your home. Reservation information is here, https://www.belmontmansion.com/christmas-dinner

Ms. Winston’s culinary creations for gala dinners have made her one of the most sought after chefs in the city. This Christmas she’s again lending her talents to Belmont Mansion’s annual fundraiser. ​ Whether guests purchase individually or as a group ~ delivery can be coordinated for any location. So be creative! Have fun putting together a group event that delights and shares the magic of the season! Just leave the cooking to Kristen!