After our delightful time at Blackberry Farm, we spent several days at our daughter’s farm in Franklin, Tennessee. Always when I am there, I find it uncanny that this is where she has chosen to live as in some ways it is a continuation of my family’s history.
Sometime early in the twentieth century my daddy’s family bought property there to access, I was told, better schools for him and his siblings. Though I don’t know much about their early history, there are surviving documents relating to property purchases and bank loans that tell some of the story.
Now, here’s where it gets a little crazy. I was born in Franklin. All that I knew of that was from a photo of my mother standing on the steps of a stone building with a baby that was me in her arms.
Fast forward to when my daughter was attending Vanderbilt University in Nashville and going to church in Franklin. On a visit there, my first since I was a very young child, we walked by a building that triggered some distant memory. It was a nursing home, but something about it kept nagging at me so after church, I had to stop and inquire about its history. Several people had no clue, but there was one person there who remembered it used to be known as Dan German Hospital. It gave me the shivers to know that I was standing in the place of my beginning, and my daughter was totally flabbergasted.
Since that time the building has served several purposes, but it has been properly identified and labeled a historical landmark. I can’t resist going by there any time I am in Franklin as it puts me in touch with my own history.
For some time after my birth, the parents and I shared a family home with my grandfather and great grandmother, the two in the middle of the photo. Funny, but I don’t know the story of that and have no memory of those early days. With there being no one left to ask, the answers will remain a mystery. I have, however, located the old place and kindly been admitted by the now owners. While there are many improvements, the original moldings and woodwork are still there, and as I walked through the old rooms many memories came flooding back.
I combed my great grandmother’s hair in the parlor. My brother and I loved pumping the old organ that was in the front room and having it bellow its dusty sounds. We and our cousins played hide and seek in the house, and one of my favorite hiding places was in a linen chest at the end of the hall. Eventually, it was passed to my parents and now it sits in my house where there will always be a place for it.
Franklin was a sleepy little town, but that is no longer true. Most of the original buildings stand, but today they are trendy boutiques and crowded restaurants.
What hasn’t changed is the confederate soldier who stands in the public square as tribute to those who gave their life during the Civil War.
Away from town are beautiful horse farms, many owned by well known folks associated with Nashville’s music scene.
I love the countryside with its fences and rock walls, its narrow curving roads and historical markers. Each one of those images evokes a sense of where I came from and there is great comfort in that which I’m not likely to have experienced had the daughter not chosen to live in Franklin. Isn’t it funny how things happen?
i so appreciate your visit and the comments you leave behind
Lulu's Musings 
Nice to see that a confederate statue can represent the people who served at the time. We have one in Winston-Salem that is under attack frequently- they constantly want to erase history and don’t get if we delete the past we have nothing to learn from. Great post about your family.
I couldn’t agreed with you more about what we’re doing to history.
Franklin is indeed a beautiful town. Unfortunately, it has been discovered.
Such an amazing story. How great that you found these details from your story!
How wonderful to have discovered more of your family history and be able to stand on the porch of that beautiful stone house where your mother once held you and found the place of your birth!!!
Funny how things take us back to our roots.
I bought an old blanket chest many, many years ago that had old letters and bank papers, etc in it…and discovered years later that in a letter it had mentioned one of my ancestors!…crazy!
Loved reading this Linda!
Beautiful memories and beautiful area! And to find your birth spot… whoa! Happy New Year!
Lovely story.
Franklin is a beautiful area. It’s been a long time since I was there but I enjoyed my stay.
Your daughter must have been drawn to Franklin through some kind of family karma! What a wonderful story, and reminder that it is so important to pass along family history to our children
Jenna
What amazing coincidences. Too many to really be coincidences. Love seeing pictures and reading about your ancestors!
Linda, what a wonderful family story! I love Franklin and their trendy boutiques and restaurants.
Thanks for sharing this part of your life with us!
There is so much LOVE in your recollections. It may be in the Natural beauty of this area. And work it’s way into our psyche. PEACE.
It must have been such a thrilling feeling to discover that hospital. So cool
WOW…! Neat story and turn of events.
Thank you so much for sharing your stories and memories with us.
Great story, Linda. Thank you for it and the happiest of New Years for you and your family.
I really enjoyed seeing the photos and reading your words Linda. Thank you!
I enjoyed seeing Franklin and reading about the memories recalled . Very special.
Love this family story & your memories, Linda.
Beautiful area of Tennessee.
I really enjoyed reading your family story. What a beautiful place.