Wilson County's Antebellum Landscape: A Past Worth Preserving

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to create a photographic record of the extant buildings built prior to the American Civil War in Wilson County, Tennessee. Previously, a complete survey of Wilson County’s historic buildings, or specifically, its antebellum buildings, did not exist. The need for this survey was evident as these buildings are being continually lost to neglect and to the expansion of Nashville’s suburbs. By thoroughly and methodically scanning Wilson County’s roads on Google Earth and referring to the National Register of Historic Places and local history books, I developed a list of every extant building (excluding outbuildings) that was likely to have been constructed before the Civil War, as far as was practical and possible. I then photographed each of these buildings—75 houses and 1 church—and researched and analyzed each one to write a brief paragraph to a page describing the building and, where possible, its history. These pictures and descriptions are intended to provide an accurate view of the remains of the antebellum architectural landscape in Wilson County. Some buildings in this survey warrant or require further research, and their pictures and descriptions here could be the basis for further research and for National Register nominations.