Ashwood Hall
Ashwood Hall was a Greek Revival style mansion in Maury County ( Tennessee , USA).
It was in what is now the Ashwood area , about 9.5 km southwest of the capital, Maury Countys, Columbia . The land originally belonged to Colonel William Polk , a veteran of the American Revolutionary War . Ashwood got its name from the mansion that used to stand there.
The mansion was built from 1833 to 1837 for one of Polk's sons, "The fighting Bishop" Leonidas Polk . Opposite the house, he had St. John's Episcopal Church built from 1839 to 1842. In 1847 Polk sold the property to heiress Rebecca Vanleer, who had married his younger brother Andrew Jackson Polk for an amount of USD 35,000. The couple paid another USD 35,000 to expand and modernize the house. Her son, the politician and diplomat Vanleer Polk, and her daughter, the Southern Belle Antoinette Polk , grew up in the mansion.
The building is two-story and made of bricks. Four Corinthian columns adorn the front. Leonidas Polk imported three exotic trees ( ginkgos ) from China, which he had planted in front of the property.
During the Civil War , Andrew Jackson Polk, who has now been named captain of the Confederate Army, organized the Maury County Braves on the grounds of Ashwood Hall . The following year, Polk's sister Antoinette warned the army stationed there that Union troops were on the way. As a result, she was revered as a "heroine of the south".
Although Ashwood Hall was one of the few southern mansions to survive the Civil War, the property burned down in 1874. The three trees that were planted survived the fire and are still in their original location today.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Tennessee - A Guide to the State
- ^ Architecture in Tennessee, 1768-1897
- ↑ a b There is a great farm field just across the road from St. John's Church. Across the field to the north stands an old brick building, and two huge, gnarled old trees.
Web links
Coordinates: 35 ° 34 ′ 25.2 ″ N , 87 ° 8 ′ 12.4 ″ W.