.gif)
Belmont Mansion (Tennessee)
Encyclopedia
Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee
on the campus of Belmont University
that today functions as a museum.
married Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, a young attorney from Alabama, and they immediately began construction of Belle Monte (Belmont) on 180 acres (72.8 ha) in Davidson County
. It was completed by 1853 as an Italian villa style summer home. Adelicia and Joseph used Belmont as a summer home to escape from the heat of Adelicia's seven Louisiana cotton plantations, which totaled 8600 acres (3,480.3 ha). The Acklens built, furnished, and landscaped one of the most elaborate antebellum homes in the South, totaling 36 rooms and 19000 sq ft (1,765.2 m²). The estate contained a variety of buildings with the house adorning the top of the hill. Beside the house, there was a T-shaped guest house and art gallery. The south wing of the guest house contained guestrooms and a bowling alley. The art gallery had a corrugated glass roof and comprised the north wing. The grounds also included lavish gardens, conservatories, aviary, lake and a zoo. The conservatories housed tropical fruit and flowers along with camellia japonica, jasmine, lilies, and cacti. The zoo featured bears, monkeys, peacocks, singing birds, a white owl, alligators from Louisiana and a deer park. Covered balconies with cast iron railing and trim surrounded the house to protect windows from the sun. Atop the house, a ten-foot octagonal cupola vented the house during the summer months and provided an "astronomical observatory" used for viewing the stars, the estate and downtown Nashville.
Joseph and Adelicia had six children together, but their twins died of scarlet fever at the age of 2 in 1855. In 1863, Joseph died in Louisiana while watching over the plantations during the Civil War. Left alone, Adelicia secretly negotiated agreements with both Union and Confederate authorities to allow 2,800 bales of her cotton to be shipped to Liverpool, England, and sold for a total of $960,000.
Despite a two-week occupation by Union General Thomas J. Wood
prior to the Battle of Nashville
, Belmont Mansion and its contents went undamaged during the Civil War. Only the grounds, where thirteen thousand Union troops spent those first two weeks of December 1864, suffered damage.
Immediately following the war, Adelicia and her four children traveled to Europe. While there, she continued amassing her large art collection, including five major marble statues by America's most important sculptors working in Rome.These including works by Randolph Rodgers, William Rinehart, Joseph Mozier
, and Chauncey Ives
. Four of these pieces remain in the mansion today. Adelicia was also presented at the Court of Emperor Louis Napoleon
and his wife Empress Eugénie
.
Months before her death, Adelicia sold Belmont, and the surrounding land, to Lewis T. Baxter for around $54,000. In 1890, it opened as a women's academy and junior college. The school merged with Ward's Seminary in 1913 and was renamed Ward-Belmont. The Tennessee Baptist Convention
purchased the school in 1951, and created a four-year, coeducational college. In 2007, Belmont University
separated from the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Today the mansion is owned by the Belmont Mansion Association and Belmont University
while it is operated and preserved by the Belmont Mansion Association.
Gilt frame mirrors hang over marble mantels reflecting the elaborate gasoliers and elegantly furnished parlors. Much of the original Venetian glass still adorns the windows, doors, and transoms of Belmont. The Grand Salon is considered by architectural historians to be the most elaborate domestic interior built in antebellum Tennessee. The gardens are now maintained as part of the University campus, including five cast iron gazebos. The 105 feet (32 m) water tower remains on the grounds and today serves as a Bell Tower for Belmont University. The Belmont Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Many notable visitors to the home include Mrs. James K. Polk, William Walker, Augustin Iturbide, Dwight L. Moody
, Thomas Huxley
, and Octavia LaVert.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1971.
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
on the campus of Belmont University
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
that today functions as a museum.
History
In 1849, Adelicia Hayes FranklinAdelicia Acklen
Adelicia Acklen was the widow of a plantation owner from Nashville, Tennessee and then an owner in her own right.-Biography:Adelicia Hayes Franklin Acklen Cheatham was born on March 15, 1817, in Nashville, Tennessee....
married Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, a young attorney from Alabama, and they immediately began construction of Belle Monte (Belmont) on 180 acres (72.8 ha) in Davidson County
Davidson County, Tennessee
Davidson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 626,681. Its county seat is Nashville.In 1963, the City of Nashville and the Davidson County government merged, so the county government is now known as the "Metropolitan Government of Nashville and...
. It was completed by 1853 as an Italian villa style summer home. Adelicia and Joseph used Belmont as a summer home to escape from the heat of Adelicia's seven Louisiana cotton plantations, which totaled 8600 acres (3,480.3 ha). The Acklens built, furnished, and landscaped one of the most elaborate antebellum homes in the South, totaling 36 rooms and 19000 sq ft (1,765.2 m²). The estate contained a variety of buildings with the house adorning the top of the hill. Beside the house, there was a T-shaped guest house and art gallery. The south wing of the guest house contained guestrooms and a bowling alley. The art gallery had a corrugated glass roof and comprised the north wing. The grounds also included lavish gardens, conservatories, aviary, lake and a zoo. The conservatories housed tropical fruit and flowers along with camellia japonica, jasmine, lilies, and cacti. The zoo featured bears, monkeys, peacocks, singing birds, a white owl, alligators from Louisiana and a deer park. Covered balconies with cast iron railing and trim surrounded the house to protect windows from the sun. Atop the house, a ten-foot octagonal cupola vented the house during the summer months and provided an "astronomical observatory" used for viewing the stars, the estate and downtown Nashville.
Despite a two-week occupation by Union General Thomas J. Wood
Thomas J. Wood
Thomas John Wood was a career United States Army officer and a Union general during the American Civil War.-Early life and career:...
prior to the Battle of Nashville
Battle of Nashville
The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 1864, between the Confederate Army of Tennessee under...
, Belmont Mansion and its contents went undamaged during the Civil War. Only the grounds, where thirteen thousand Union troops spent those first two weeks of December 1864, suffered damage.
Immediately following the war, Adelicia and her four children traveled to Europe. While there, she continued amassing her large art collection, including five major marble statues by America's most important sculptors working in Rome.These including works by Randolph Rodgers, William Rinehart, Joseph Mozier
Joseph Mozier
Joseph Mozier was an American sculptor active in Italy.Mozier was born in Burlington, Vermont. In 1831 he moved to New York City where worked as a merchant. He retired from business about 1845, and shortly afterward went to Europe, studying sculpture for several years in Florence, after which he...
, and Chauncey Ives
Chauncey Ives
Chauncey Bradley Ives was a prolific American sculptor who worked primarily in the Neo-classic style. His best known works are the marble statues of Jonathan Trumbull and Roger Sherman enshrined in the National Statuary Hall Collection.-Early years:Ives was born in Hamden, Connecticut and at the...
. Four of these pieces remain in the mansion today. Adelicia was also presented at the Court of Emperor Louis Napoleon
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
and his wife Empress Eugénie
Eugénie de Montijo
Doña María Eugenia Ignacia Augustina de Palafox-Portocarrero de Guzmán y Kirkpatrick, 16th Countess of Teba and 15th Marquise of Ardales; 5 May 1826 – 11 July 1920), known as Eugénie de Montijo , was the last Empress consort of the French from 1853 to 1871 as the wife of Napoleon III, Emperor of...
.
Months before her death, Adelicia sold Belmont, and the surrounding land, to Lewis T. Baxter for around $54,000. In 1890, it opened as a women's academy and junior college. The school merged with Ward's Seminary in 1913 and was renamed Ward-Belmont. The Tennessee Baptist Convention
Tennessee Baptist Convention
The Tennessee Baptist Convention is the Tennessee statewide organization of churches associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It maintains offices in Brentwood, Tennessee. Members include 68 Baptist associations and about 3,200 churches....
purchased the school in 1951, and created a four-year, coeducational college. In 2007, Belmont University
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
separated from the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Today the mansion is owned by the Belmont Mansion Association and Belmont University
Belmont University
Belmont University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. It is the largest Christian university in Tennessee and the second largest private university in the state, behind nearby Vanderbilt University.-Belmont Mansion:Belmont Mansion...
while it is operated and preserved by the Belmont Mansion Association.
Gilt frame mirrors hang over marble mantels reflecting the elaborate gasoliers and elegantly furnished parlors. Much of the original Venetian glass still adorns the windows, doors, and transoms of Belmont. The Grand Salon is considered by architectural historians to be the most elaborate domestic interior built in antebellum Tennessee. The gardens are now maintained as part of the University campus, including five cast iron gazebos. The 105 feet (32 m) water tower remains on the grounds and today serves as a Bell Tower for Belmont University. The Belmont Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
Many notable visitors to the home include Mrs. James K. Polk, William Walker, Augustin Iturbide, Dwight L. Moody
Dwight L. Moody
Dwight Lyman Moody , also known as D.L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts , the Moody Bible Institute and Moody Publishers.-Early life:Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts to a large...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, and Octavia LaVert.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1971.
External links
- Belmont Mansion website
- Belmont Mansion at the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture