Shows and Attractions Found on Our Tours

In 1807, John Harding (from Virginia) purchased a log cabin and 250 acres located on the Natchez Trace, 6 miles west of Nashville, and started Belle Meade Plantation. Mr. Harding boarded horses for his neighbors in those early years, but by 1816 had begun to breed thoroughbreds. The Federal Greek Revival mansion was not built until 1853, but by that time the plantation had expanded to 5,400 acres and was renowned throughout the world for breeding champion Thoroughbred horses. As the site of intense fighting during the Battle of Nashville in the Civil War, the Belle Meade still shows scars of the violence. In 1953, 30 acres of the once mammoth plantation, the plantation house, and eight outbuildings were deeded to The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee's Antiquities. The Plantation was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1969, and is presently operated as a museum.