The Robert Searcy Wendel Home

Researched and written by Barry Lamb July/August 2022 Froe Chips The fine two-story brick house that once stood at the northwest corner of College and Spring Streets, enumerated 123 East College Street, was for many decades known as the old Wendel family home due to the longevity of its ownership…

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The Tilford-Wendel Home

May 1, 2022, Researched and written by Barry Lamb “When shall we three meet again?When the hurlyburly’s done,When the battle’s lost and won.Then shall we three meet again.”Sarah Jane Keeble The foregoing doleful, yet poetic sentiments of a wife and mother who missed her beloved husband, David Deaderick Wendel, and…

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East Main Mansion Approved for Tax Abatement

March 8, Rutherford County Historian Greg Tucker Oakhurst, the 140-year-old mansion on Cherry Lane, has qualified for the Rutherford County Property Tax Abatement for Historic Restoration and Preservation. This program, the first of its kind in Tennessee, encourages preservation of historic structures by granting a ten year tax abatement for…

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The Mason-Ransom Mansion

March 11, 2022, Researched and Written by Barry Lamb “The majesty and beauty of this once stately abodeThe story of which has seldom been told.Its image beyond the barrenness of the treesBespeaks of the gay nineties at College and Academy.“ Pleasant Priestly Mason, Murfreesboro’s foremost idealistic enterprising entrepreneur of the…

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The Lytle-Harrison House

Froe Chips, September/October, 2021, Researched and Written by Barry Lamb As Lieutenant Carter Bassett Harrison and his regiment, the 51st Ohio Infantry Regiment, USA, prepared for battle against the southern defenders of Murfreesboro on January 2, 1863, he had no way of knowing that he would soon be engaging in…

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I always passed Captain Jackson’s Grave with Respect

August 10, 2021, Rutherford County Commissioner Pettus Read While growing up among the hillsides and rolling farmland of Middle Tennessee in the community of Versailles, I had the opportunity to experience, learn and receive an extended education in family pride and heritage. Everyone in the small community I called and…

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‘Grantlands’

July 1, 2021, Barry Lamb Grantlands, so named because of the grant of land on which the manor house was situated, was the ancestral home of the Dickinson and Murfree families. It was once located near the intersection of West Clark Boulevard and Hamilton Drive and it is believed that…

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A Tree that Witnessed History

July 1, 2021, Dr. Steven Murphree, President Sam Davis Memorial Association There are many mature trees on the campus of the Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation, many that are well over 100 years old. Visitors to this historic site are attracted to the stately tulip or yellow poplars along…

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The Osborn-Dromgoole-Harrison-Murfree House

June 10, 2021 Barry Lamb The Osborn-Dromgoole-Harrison-Murfree house, formerly located at 420 North Spring Street, on the corner of Spring and Bell Streets, was likely built for Caleb Osborn and his wife, Elizabeth Rankin Osborn, around 1853. The land on which the house was constructed was once owned by Marmon…

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