Tour Historic Brentwood Homes Sunday

BRENTWOOD, TN — The annual Ravenwood High School Holiday Home Tour is 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, December 4, featuring some of Brentwood's oldest and best preserved homes, with decorations, musicians, artists and refreshments adding Christmas cheer and historians on hand for illuminating information.

The self-guided tour can start at any of the homes and can be visited in any order.

This year's tour stops are:

Ravenswood Mansion

Built in 1825, by James Hazard Wilson II, the house is an outstanding example of Federal period architecture. Wilson named the property after his best man, Sam Houston, who was known as “the Raven” to the Cherokee Indians.

Ravenswood Mansion was one of the three largest plantations in Williamson County. In 1961, Reese and Marcella Vivrette Smith purchased and restored the home. In 2010, the City of Brentwood purchased the property establishing a park in the previous owner’s honor.

Findlay Home

Much of the land in Brentwood was passed down through generations in the Crockett, Wilson, Primm, and Owen families. Over time, plots were sold to developers. Development began on the Montclair subdivision in 2003. Tour the first floor to view five unique and differently decorated Christmas trees and a beautiful nativity scene.

Cool Springs House

Now located in Crockett Park, this Victorian farm house has a welcoming front porch and a yellow exterior with green shutters. In the 1830s, James and Penelope Barfield Carothers built the original two log rooms of the house at Mallory Lane and Cool Springs Blvd. During the next 160 years, the log house changed ownership and underwent major additions and renovations. In 1993, the City of Brentwood assumed ownership when the development of the Cool Springs area threatened the integrity of the house. Although historically preserved, the house features modern facilities designed to accommodate special events; 2016 RHS ornaments, merchandise, and refreshments will be available in this home.

Primm Historic Park

Primm Historic Park, located on Moores Lane, contains some of the most important historical and cultural resources in Tennessee. The park is the site of two National Register of Historic Places properties: Boiling Springs Academy, established as a school in 1833, and a prehistoric Native American Mound Site. The site was excavated in the 1920s by the Smithsonian and is known as the Fewkes Site. Boiling Springs Academy opened for classes in 1833. The Primm family, who owned the 1806 farm and historic home across the street on Moores Lane, donated the land to the city for preservation in 2003.
Brentwood Historical Society member and RHS parent Bridget Filopovic will be on site to paint a rich picture of life at the school.

Concord House

Located at the corner of Crockett and Concord roads, the Concord house was built in the 1860s and was constructed of poplar trees cut from the surrounding farm. The smokehouse on the property, built in 1813, is an authentic relic, one of the oldest of its kind. A 2,000-square-foot barn shelters a servant’s cabin built in 1801. The house was restored in 1987 by T. Vance Little, Brentwood’s first and only City Historian, who lived there until shortly before his death in 2009.

Century Oak

Built in 1845 by James Hazard Wilson II for his eldest son, Samuel, the house is important for its association with the Wilson family, prominent landowners in Williamson County. The property holds many interesting Civil War stories. After the fall of Nashville in 1862, Union Troops foraged the area and confiscated livestock. To protect their Thoroughbred horses, the Wilsons blindfolded them, led them up one flight of stairs and stored them in the second-floor ballroom until the troops had passed! The hoof prints can still be seen on the grand staircase today. Architecturally, the house is an example of antebellum residential design.

Tickets are available online; bring receipt of purchase to any home on the tour to obtain a wristband.