City: Nashville, TN

Category: Tours & Attractions

Telephone: (615) 460-5459

Address: 1900 Wedgewood Ave.

Description: Belmont Mansion was built in 1850 as the summer home of Joseph and Adelicia Acklen. The beautiful and aristocratic Adelicia was said to have been the wealthiest woman in America during the mid-1800s. She owned more than 50,000 acres of land in Louisiana, Texas, and Tennessee, all of which she inherited after her first husband, wealthy businessman Isaac Franklin, died in 1846. Her wealth placed her in the top half of 1 percent of antebellum society. The Italianate villa is furnished in original and period pieces, including gilded mirrors, marble statues, and art that Adelicia collected as she traveled the world. The Acklens enlarged and remodeled the mansion in 1859. After the expansion, Belmont boasted 36 rooms with nearly 11,000 square feet of living space and another 8,400 square feet of service area in the basement. The property also contained extensive gardens and numerous outbuildings. A 105-foot water tower, which still stands, irrigated the gardens and provided water for the fountains. Also on the property were a greenhouse and conservatory, an art gallery, gazebos, a bowling alley, a bear house, a deer park, and a zoo. Adelicia opened the gardens as a public park.Today, visitors to Belmont Mansion will hear the fascinating story of Adelicia, an extraordinary woman who led an interesting life. When her second husband died during the Civil War, she was left with 2,800 bales of cotton. She traveled to Louisiana and cunningly “negotiated” the illegal sale of her cotton to England for $960,000 in gold. In 1887 she sold Belmont to a land development company. Two women from Philadelphia purchased the mansion in 1890 and opened a women’s school, which later merged with Nashville’s Ward School to become Ward–Belmont, an academy and junior college for women. In 1951 the Tennessee Baptist Convention purchased the school, and created a 4-year, coeducational college, which became Belmont University. In 1989, Belmont University separated from the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Today, the mansion is owned by the Belmont Mansion Association and Belmont University. The mansion completed a 7-month exterior restoration that returned the home to its former grandeur. In fact, this was the first time since 1859 that stucco work has been done, using a unique scoring that is rarely preserved or restored in Nashville. Open daily. Closed major holidays.