From the National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form
Belle Meade mansion, the plantation house of the several
thousand acre plantation that 'once existed along with the mansion,
was owned and built by the Harding family. John Harding founded the
plantation in 1807 and gradually added land to what was to become one
of the finest farms - especially thoroughbred - in the country.
The original deed included one of middle Tennessee's first permanent
structures, Dunham's Station. The Harding family occupied the property
from 1807 until 1904. General W. G. Harding built the present mansion
and his daughter Selene who married William Hicks Jackson, a
confederate general, continued to live at Bellemeade. Other families
owned the mansion as a private home in the twentieth century, but the
farm Was soon divided for residential and park use. In 1953, the
State of Tennessee bought the mansion and 2M- acres for restoration as
a state historic site. The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities has done the restoration since.
The Belle Meade stud was one of the most famous nurseries of
Thoroughbred horses. In addition, the farm sold breeding stock of
ponies, Alclerney cattle, Cotswold sheeg, and Cashmere goats. General
Harding and his son-in-law, General Jackson were pioneers in the
science of animal husbandry. After the death of Gen. Jackson and his
son, William Harding Jackson, the mansion, land, and livestock were
sold in 1904. At that, time t Belle Meade was America's oldest and
largest Thoroughbred Farm.
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