Fairvue Plantation (Gallatin, Tennessee)

Fairvue Plantation

Company type	Private
Industry	Agriculture, Horse breeding, Real estate development
Founded	1832
Founder	Isaac Franklin
Headquarters	Near Gallatin , United States
Products	Corn, mules, bacon, thoroughbred racehorses, cotton (historical)

Fairvue Plantation was founded in 1832 near Gallatin, Tennessee by Isaac Franklin. Following the American Civil War, Charles Reed transformed the property into a horse farm, and it was subsequently revitalized by the Wemyss family. By 2004, Fairvue had developed into a golf course community that combined upscale residences with restored historic structures.

Antebellum History

In 1832, Isaac Franklin (1789–1846) established Fairvue Plantation. After a career as a partner in the largest slave-trading enterprise in the South, Franklin became a prosperous planter by 1836. He managed two primary estates: Fairvue’s 2,000 acres near Gallatin and a vast Louisiana holding made up of contiguous plantations collectively known as the Angola Plantations.

An inventory of Franklin’s estate in 1847 recorded 138 enslaved individuals at Fairvue, alongside livestock such as sheep, hogs, cattle, and thoroughbred racehorses. The plantation mainly produced goods like corn, mules, and bacon to supply his Louisiana properties; however, these shipments did not fully satisfy those estates’ demands.

The Louisiana holdings spanned about 8,000 acres and included Angola, Bellevue, Killarney, Loango, Panola, and Lochlomond plantations. Angola functioned primarily as a woodlot providing fuel for Mississippi River steamboats, while the remaining plantations concentrated on cotton cultivation.

Upon Franklin’s death in 1846, his will placed his assets into trusts for his children and arranged support for his widow Adelicia until her remarriage. After marrying Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen in 1849, Adelicia successfully challenged the will to assume control over the Louisiana plantations; however, Fairvue remained part of Franklin’s estate under executor John Armfield. Without income from the Louisiana properties, plans to establish a school at Fairvue were abandoned. Despite this, Adelicia became Tennessee’s wealthiest woman with an estate valued near $750,000, which included:

• 2,000 acres of Fairvue land appraised at $40,000
• Personal property at Fairvue valued at $62,819—including enslaved individuals worth $51,931
• 50,000 acres in Texas valued at $25,000
• Louisiana estate comprising seven plantations valued around $570,000

Joseph Acklen contributed to expanding their wealth. By 1859, their Louisiana plantations employed 659 enslaved people across 4,000 improved acres and produced over 3,100 bales of cotton. Adelicia relocated her summer residence from Fairvue to the newly constructed Belmont Mansion near Nashville. Joseph Acklen passed away at Angola Plantation in 1863.

After Joseph’s death and during the Civil War years, Adelicia encountered significant difficulties: emancipation freed her enslaved workforce; cotton harvested in 1861-62 remained stored in Louisiana; and the 1863 crop was left to rot in the fields. In 1864 she negotiated with both Confederate and Union authorities to transport and sell approximately 2,800 bales of cotton in Britain personally—securing roughly $800,000 from these sales—thus safeguarding her fortune despite wartime adversities.

American Civil War and postbellum history

In 1869, Adelicia acquired Fairvue from John Armfield, who was managing Franklin's estate as executor.

Following her 1867 marriage to Dr. William A. Cheatham and their separation in 1880, Adelicia sold her Louisiana plantations for $100,000 and relocated to Washington D.C., where she passed away in 1887. These plantations eventually became the site of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, commonly known as Angola.

Around 1882, Charles Reed, a New York banker and avid racehorse owner, purchased the 2,000-acre Fairvue Plantation from Adelicia for $50,000. Reed, who had altered his surname from Weed due to family objections regarding his Confederate shipping ventures, converted Fairvue into a thoroughbred breeding farm. Among his prized horses was St. Blaise, the English Derby champion, which he acquired for $100,000 in 1882. To reduce excessive expenditures, Reed sold his horses circa 1900 and later sold Fairvue in 1908 to a syndicate that divided the property into smaller agricultural parcels.

Between 1908 and 1929, Fairvue changed hands several times until it was purchased by the Sumner Land Company. The estate then served as the base for the Grasslands Hunt and Racing Club—a fox hunting and steeplechase association encompassing sixty to eighty farms stretching from Hendersonville to Gallatin. Efforts to renovate the mansion and establish recreational amenities were halted by the Great Depression, which caused the company to declare bankruptcy in 1932.

In 1934, William Wemyss, founder of the enterprise that became Genesco, acquired Fairvue. He married Ellen Stokes Moore in 1939, who undertook restoration efforts on the property.

The creation of Old Hickory Dam on the Cumberland River in 1956 submerged 320 acres of Fairvue Farms, isolating the mansion on a peninsula.

Fairvue was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1977, with a designated area covering 550 acres. This included the main house, three slave cabins, an overseer’s residence, spring house, ice house, and the remains of Isaac Franklin’s burial vault.

Around 1999, developers purchased the remaining Fairvue land and transformed it into an upscale golf community featuring over 400 homes by 2004. As a result of these developments compromising its historic character, Fairvue’s landmark status was revoked in 2005.

See also

• Belmont Mansion; Nashville, Tennessee
• Louisiana State Penitentiary – established on Isaac Franklin's former Louisiana plantations after their sale by widow Adelicia in 1880
• Franklin and Armfield Office
• Isaac Franklin (brig)
• Landed gentry
• Natchez slave market