Belmont Mansion (Tennessee)
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Belmont
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Belmont Mansion
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| Location | 1900 Belmont Boulevard Nashville, Tennessee |
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| Coordinates | 36°8′9″N 86°47′41″W / 36.13583°N 86.79472°WCoordinates: 36°8′9″N 86°47′41″W / 36.13583°N 86.79472°W |
| Built | 1849-53 |
| Architect | William Strickland or Adolphus Heiman |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival, Italianate |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000816 |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1971 |
Belmont Mansion, also known as Acklen Hall, and originally known as Belle Monte, Belle Mont or Belmont, is a historic mansion located in Nashville, Tennessee on the campus of Belmont University that today functions as a museum.
In 1849, Adelicia Hayes Franklin married Joseph Alexander Smith Acklen, a young attorney from Alabama, and they immediately began construction of Belle Monte (Belmont) on 180 acres (73 ha) in Davidson County. It was completed by 1853 as an Italian villa style summer home. Adelicia and Joseph used Belmont as a summer home to escape from the heat of Adelicia's seven Louisiana cotton plantations, which totaled 8,600 acres (3,500 ha). The Acklens built, furnished, and landscaped one of the most elaborate antebellum homes in the South, totaling 36 rooms and 19,000 sq ft (1,800 m2). The estate contained a variety of buildings with the house adorning the top of the hill. Beside the house, there was a T-shaped guest house and art gallery. The south wing of the guest house contained guestrooms and a bowling alley. The art gallery had a corrugated glass roof and comprised the north wing. The grounds also included lavish gardens, conservatories, aviary, lake and a zoo. The conservatories housed tropical fruit and flowers along with camellia japonica, jasmine, lilies, and cacti. The zoo featured bears, monkeys, peacocks, singing birds, a white owl, alligators from Louisiana and a deer park. Covered balconies with cast iron railing and trim surrounded the house to protect windows from the sun. Atop the house, a ten-foot octagonal cupola vented the house during the summer months and provided an "astronomical observatory" used for viewing the stars, the estate and downtown Nashville.
Joseph and Adelicia had six children together, but their twins died of scarlet fever at the age of 2 in 1855. In 1863, Joseph died in Louisiana while watching over the plantations during the Civil War. Left alone, Adelicia secretly negotiated agreements with both Union and Confederate authorities to allow 2,800 bales of her cotton to be shipped to Liverpool, England, and sold for a total of $960,000.
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