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History of Old
Sumner
Fairvue, Part Four – The Wemyss Era, Chapter 2
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Old houses have a way
of disappearing.
Their original
purposes fulfilled, these relics, with high ceilings, arcane
plumbing and dangerous wiring, if they are to survive, require new
lovers, with mechanical talents, money, or both. Fairvue was
forsaken by its earlier ones several times and stood more than once
near ruin. That it did not disappear like the others owes more to
Will and Ellen Wemyss than to all its previous owners, none of whom
occupied it for a third the time they did.
When Will Wemyss died
in 1973 he left his widow Ellen, at 79, with the use of a
considerable fortune and a farm in a high state of development.
Three hundred fifty acres of scenic pasture lay on two peninsulas of
Old Hickory Lake, well watered and home to a herd of prime black
angus cattle. The brick slave cottages and overseer’s quarters had
been converted to tidy apartments, whose young tenants had the use
of the grounds and the swimming cove and boat dock. The stables were
let to boarders and trainers and horses once more adorned Fairvue.
The vegetable gardens were broken anew each spring and furnished
fresh produce to all hands until first frost. The whole show was
overseen by a vigorous Ellen herself, with the help of her loyal
retainers Ruth and Margaret, who managed the household, Ruth’s
gardener husband, Clarence, and Corbitt, the farm manager. Troubled
times lay ahead for Genesco, the company Will Wemyss co-founded, but
the halcyon years at his Fairvue plantation were but fairly begun.
Nor were her interests
limited to farming. Raised an Episcopalian, she saw to it that a
church was established. in Gallatin. The church held its first
meetings in the basement of the courthouse, where the handful of
worshippers struggled to kneel between the loafers’ benches. Soon it
moved to a beautiful stone chapel on Hartsville Pike which she and
Will built, expanded, supported and endowed. The church banner today
bears two stars, one of which represents the Wemyss family. The
entire congregation was often invited to hold worship or social
events at Fairvue, where all were invited to Easter egg hunts or
Christmas concerts.
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Easter Egg Hunt |
Childrens Choir |
Scarcely a worthy
cause escaped their attention, including:
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Gallatin Day Care
Center, for working mothers
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Sumner County Free
Public Library
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Volunteer State
Community College
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Sumner Academy
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Sumner Regional
Hospital
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Dozens of other
local charities such as Gallatin Cares, Senior Citizens, and
private charity which she gave to the needy
Yet her major efforts
were directed towards preserving those icons of our history, which
tell us who we are, where we came from, and how we lived. In a
culture bent on razing our heritage and replacing it with someone
else’s, she put her own money and energy into buying and restoring
the best and most beautiful. These included, among homes she
furnished all or most of the initiative for:
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Cragfont, home of
General James Winchester, hero of the Revolution, the Creek Wars,
and the War of 1812, whom Andrew Jackson sent to hold Mobile while
he turned back the British at New Orleans. The magnificent stone
Georgian ruin sat on a crag overlooking a spring above Bledsoe
Creek Ellen found the ruin used to store hay and to feed cattle
and hogs. Winchester, a merchant and land speculator, founded
Memphis, which he thought would never equal the village of Cairo
at the mouth of Bledsoe Creek, where he kept a store and stocked
Homer, Cicero, Hume and Montesqieu. Today the restored gardens
with gazebo and lake are a venue for summer parties and weddings,
open to the public, and the mansion is a feature of historic
tours.
Cragfont Gardens
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Rose Mont – Home of
Josephus Conn Guild, prominent early 19th century Tennessee jurist
and political leader, who succeeded in bringing the L&N Railroad
thorough Gallatin. Rose Mont shares with Fairvue the architectural
influence of downriver Louisiana with open galleries and elevated
first floors. It, too, is a favorite for weddings and parties.
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And, finally, of
course, Fairvue itself, the queen of Tennessee plantation homes.
Other historic shrines
which she played a major role in preserving and maintaining
included:
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The Hermitage, home
of President Andrew Jackson.
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Travelers Rest, home
of John Overton
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The Bowen-Campbell
House, home of one of the State’s first governors, adjacent to
Manskers Fort in Goodlettsville, the earliest pioneer station in
middle Tennessee, and now the center of Moss-Wright Park, used by
hundreds daily.
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Wynnewood, an early
nineteenth century spa resort, in Bledsoe Fort Historical Park,
the largest log structure of its time in Tennessee, and now a
major tourist attraction.
Wynnewood
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The Sumner County
Museum adjacent to the home of William Trousdale, Governor of
Tennessee and hero of the Mexican War.
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Rock Castle, in
Hendersonville, the grand stone structure built by Gen. Daniel
Smith, who surveyed and opened up most of Middle Tennessee.
In times such as
these, it may be asked why all this seemed so important to this
lady, this expensive preservation of old homes, monuments more than
houses.
Perhaps the answer
lies in who she was.
Ellen Stokes was born
into a prominent family in Middle Tennessee. Privileged is not so
much the word as is involved. The Stokes family was involved in all
aspects of the community of the Heartland of Middle Tennessee,
social, political, economic, military, the law and justice.
This placed Ellen
Stokes, from her earliest childhood, in contact with the leaders and
shapers of society, politics and culture in Middle Tennessee. A
quick, attractive and inquisitive girl, with near-perfect recall she
never lost an opportunity to learn, to meet new people, or to have
an adventure.
Ellen Stokes as a Young Girl
Born in the 19th
century, her busy life spanned the 20th, and she lived into the
21st. She knew everybody, Austin Peay, Luke Lea, Rogers Caldwell,
Frank Clement, Johnny Cash, Randy Wood, Hill McAllister, Colonel
Berry, (How many of you busy air travelers know BNA stands for
Berry-Nashville?), and wrecked one of the earliest automobiles
driving with Percy Warner. She marched in the Suffragette Parade,
flew in an early airplane, rode her horse into her late eighties,
jog-walked in her 90s (I was the only 90-year-old to finish the
Walkathon, she remarked.). She covered the globe, beginning with her
grand tour in her teens, explored glaciers in Alaska, and bicycled
along the canals of France. When the Princess Royal, Ann, made a
celebrated appearance at the Iroquois Steeplechase she missed a
great opportunity if she did not stop and meet the regal lady seated
with her granddaughters in the second tier of boxes.
Ellen Wymess at Steeplechase with Grandaughers
Princess Anne
During this long life
she was married and widowed twice, raised one son and two
stepchildren, whom she adopted, as well as nurturing several cousins
in the big mansion at Fairvue. When they grew up and made their own
lives the house was not empty. The guest book recorded hundreds of
guests and parties over the Wemyss tenure, but did not record the
countless drop-in visitors the house and its Mistress hosted.
It was Sumner County’s
great fortune that the doyen of Nashville culture married one of its
sons, a captain of industry, and not only moved here, but adopted
the county. The first Mistress of Fairvue, Adelicia Franklin, also
moved out from Nashville to Gallatin to marry one of its sons, but
forsook it upon his death and took the money and ran. When Ellen
Wemyss’s husband died, she stayed and adopted the county and its
people, educating, enculturating and enlivening it and them with her
presence and her property.
As for the old houses,
those precious, irreplaceable properties that she preserved, she did
so not for herself, but for others She believed that beauty was not
just to be owned or consumed, but to be shared. The generations of
young who troop through these halls, looking at the tall ceilings
and enjoying weddings and soirees in the gardens learn as they see
of the great ones who pioneered our land and ask themselves, what
manner of men were these?
In 1989
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, on the 50th anniversary of the release of Gone
With The Wind sought the perfect venue in which to celebrate it.
They chose Fairvue; the only question was, would Miss Ellen allow
it? Her only question was, Can I wear a costume? After each pair of
guests cleared the gray-clad honor guard and were announced they
were greeted by Aunt Pittipat and conducted through the veranda to
the lawn, where they mingled with the Colonels and Generals. There
was not a top hat or Confederate uniform for hire in Tennessee or
the eight adjacent states. MGM sent their Vivien Leigh look-a-like
and the movie was projected onto a huge screen backed by the columns
of Fairvue throughout the evening.
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| Honor Guard at GWTW
Party |
Aunt Pittipat |
Next Installment -
Miss Ellen proves Einstein's theory correct
Party on the Lawn
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Bill
Puryear, Artist