Cragfont | |
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Location | 200 Cragfont Road, Castalian Springs, Tennessee 37031 (East of Gallatin off TN 25) |
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Nearest city | Gallatin, Tennessee |
Coordinates | 36°24′17″N86°20′32″W / 36.4046°N 86.3422°W Coordinates: 36°24′17″N86°20′32″W / 36.4046°N 86.3422°W |
Built | 1798 |
Architectural style | Georgian |
NRHP reference No. | 70000618 |
Added to NRHP | February 26, 1970 |
Cragfont (or Cragfont State Historical Site) is a state historic site and historic house located in Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee. It was the home of Revolutionary War protagonist and Middle Tennessee pioneer General James Winchester.
Construction was started in 1798 and completed in 1802 by artisans from James' home state of Maryland. During the time, Cragfont was the finest mansion on the Tennessee frontier and typified the grandeur and style of the best architecture of the late Georgian period. Named Cragfont because it stood on a rocky bluff with a spring at its base, the house is furnished with Federal antiques, some of which are original to the Winchester family. The basement of the house features an authentic weaving room. [1]
Cragfont is listed with the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public. It is owned by the State of Tennessee and administered in partnership with the Tennessee Historical Commission by the non-profit group Historic Castalian Springs.
Winchester served as a brigadier general in the War of 1812 and a soldier against indigenous Native Americans. He is also credited with founding the city of Memphis, Tennessee along with Andrew Jackson and Judge John Overton. Winchester, who died at the home in 1826, is buried in the family plot behind the house.
Cragfont was featured as a haunted location on Haunted Live on 2018 on the Travel Channel, where the paranormal team Tennessee Wraith Chasers were the first ever to investigate the house. [2]
Sumner County is a county located on the central northern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, in what is called Middle Tennessee.
Bledsoe County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,913. Its county seat is Pikeville.
Gallatin is a city in and the county seat of Sumner County, Tennessee. The population was 30,278 at the 2010 census and 44,431 at the 2020 census. Named for United States Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, the city was established on the Cumberland River and made the county seat of Sumner County in 1802. It is located about 30.6 miles northeast of the state capital of Nashville, Tennessee.
William Hall was an American politician who served as the seventh Governor of the state of Tennessee from April to October 1829.
James Winchester was an officer in the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) and a brigadier general during the War of 1812 (1812–1815). He commanded the American forces at the Battle of Frenchtown, which led to the Massacre of the River Raisin.
The Bowen–Campbell House, also known as the Bowen Plantation House, is a two-story, Federal style, brick house located in Goodlettsville, Sumner County, Tennessee.
Rose Mont is a Greek Revival style house built in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. It was built by Judge Josephus Conn Guild for his family, and completed in 1842. Once the site of the area's largest thoroughbred horse farm with 500 acres (2.0 km2), it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Rosemont. In 1993 the property was purchased by the City of Gallatin and the Rose Mont Restoration Foundation. The house is open to the public.
Trousdale Place is a historic mansion in Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee. It was the home of John H. Bowen, local attorney and member of the United States House of Representatives, and of governor of Tennessee William Trousdale.
Rock Castle State Historic Site, located in Hendersonville, Sumner County, Tennessee, is the former home of Daniel Smith. Construction began in 1784; its completion was delayed by conflicts with area Native Americans and the house was completed in 1796. It is listed with the National Register of Historic Places and is open to the public. It is one of the Tennessee Historical Commission's State-Owned Historic Sites and is operated by the Friends of Rock Castle in partnership with the Tennessee Historical Commission.
Bledsoe's Station, also known as Bledsoe's Fort, was an 18th-century, fortified, frontier settlement located in what is now Castalian Springs, Tennessee. The fort was built by long hunter and Sumner County pioneer Isaac Bledsoe in the early 1780s to protect Upper Cumberland settlers and migrants from hostile Native American attacks. While the fort is no longer standing, its location has been verified by archaeological excavations. The site is now part of Bledsoe's Fort Historical Park, a public park established in 1989 by Sumner County residents and Bledsoe's descendants.
Wynnewood, also known as Castalian Springs, is a historic estate in Castalian Springs, Sumner County, Tennessee. The property is owned by the state of Tennessee and its official name is the Wynnewood State Historic Site, it includes an 1828 former inn that is the largest existing log structure in Tennessee. The property is operated by the Historic Castalian Springs under an agreement with the Tennessee Historical Commission. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971.
Castalian Springs is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Sumner County, Tennessee, United States. It is located along Tennessee State Route 25, about seven miles east of Gallatin. The area has its own United States post office, designated by the Zip code 37031. In the early 19th century, it was known locally as Bledsoe's Lick, and was the location of Bledsoe's Station, a fortified trading post. As of the 2010 census, its population was 556.
Bledsoe Creek State Park is a state park in Sumner County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The park consists of 169 acres (0.68 km2) managed by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. The park spans much of the west shore of the Bledsoe Creek embayment of Old Hickory Lake, an impoundment of the Cumberland River created with the completion of Old Hickory Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1954.
Humphrey Bate was an American harmonica player and string band leader. He was the first musician to play old-time music on Nashville-area radio. Bate and his band, which had been given the name "Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters" by Opry founder George D. Hay, were regulars on the Grand Ole Opry until Bate's death in 1936. The band's recordings, while scant, are considered some of the most distinctive and complex string band compositions in the old-time genre.
The Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) is the State Historic Preservation Office for the U.S. state of Tennessee. Headquartered in Nashville, it is an independent state agency, administratively attached to the Department of Environment and Conservation. Its mission is to protect, preserve, interpret, maintain, and administer historic places; to encourage the inclusive diverse study of Tennessee's history for the benefit of future generations; to mark important locations, persons, and events in Tennessee history; to assist in worthy publication projects; to review, comment on and identify projects that will potentially impact historic properties; to locate, identify, record, and nominate to the National Register of Historic Places all properties which meet National Register criteria, and to implement other programs of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 as amended. The Tennessee Historical Commission also refers to the entity consisting of 24 Governor-appointed members and five ex officio members.
The Castalian Springs Mound State Historic Site (40SU14) is a Mississippian culture archaeological site located near the small unincorporated community of Castalian Springs in Sumner County, Tennessee. The site was first excavated in the 1890s and again as recently as the 2005 to 2011 archaeological field school led by Dr. Kevin E. Smith. A number of important finds have been associated with the site, most particularly several examples of Mississippian stone statuary and the Castalian Springs shell gorget held by the National Museum of the American Indian. The site is owned by the State of Tennessee and is a State Historic Site managed by the Bledsoe's Lick Association for the Tennessee Historical Commission. The site is not currently open to the public.
Anthony Bledsoe (1733–1788) was an American surveyor, politician and military colonel. He served in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War.
The Civil War Trust's Civil War Discovery Trail is a heritage tourism program that links more than 600 U.S. Civil War sites in more than 30 states. The program is one of the White House Millennium Council's sixteen flagship National Millennium Trails. Sites on the trail include battlefields, museums, historic sites, forts and cemeteries.
John Waller Head was an American lawyer, legislator, and Tennessee Attorney General.