Built c.1823, the Historic Franklin Masonic Hall is the oldest three-story building in Franklin and is the earliest significant Gothic Revival building in Tennessee. The Masonic fraternity known as Hiram Lodge No. 7 of Free and Accepted Masons was chartered in 1809. It is the oldest continually operating Masonic fraternity in the state, and the Hall was the meeting site for generations of Franklin’s most prominent businessmen and civic leaders.
Located in northwest Williamson County, Vaughn Road segment from Sneed Road to Strickland Road represents a portion of Williamson County’s original Natchez Trace, an ancient network of trails that led from Nashville to Natchez, MS. This portion lies directly on, across, and over the footprint of the original Natchez Trace and still retains its historic, culturally significant, and scenic integrity on the Natchez Trace Historic Rural Landscape. Previously named to the Ten in Tennessee Most Endangered Places List by the Tennessee Preservation Trust in 2016, the site is still under threat from development. Plans exist to place seven large residences on only 13 acres of land fronting Vaughn Road.
The Burns Farm and House on Patton Road is the last functioning rural farm with a historic house in the fast-developing Triune area. The two-story vernacular farmhouse was built ca 1900 and may contain an original log structure from the early 1880s. Threatened by development, the farmhouse has the potential to help retain the rural character of the community and serve as an anchor for tourism, multimodal trails, and meet the requirements of the Triune Special Area Plan adopted by Williamson County in 2007 as part of its Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
The Natchez Street Historic District, a National Register District listed for its African American ethnic heritage, is in danger of losing its historic integrity from the rapid development pressures in Franklin. The Natchez Street Historic District, unlike Franklin’s four other National Registered Districts, is not within the Franklin Historic Preservation Overlay. Currently, new development and demolition is expanding in and around the district.
The Gaylor House, originally built ca 1900, is a contributing structure to the Nachez Street Historic District in Franklin. From 1956 to 1961, the Gaylor home at 253 Nachez Street was the only Franklin listing in the historic Negro Travelers’ Green Book. Providing a list of safe accommodations and restaurants for African American travelers, The Green Book was a life-saving tool during a time when they were banned from many establishments. The Gaylor home was first identified as extant during a 2017-2018 survey of Tennessee’s Green Book properties by preservationists at MTSU’s Center for Historic Preservation, New South Associates, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. The home and others now have wider appreciation following the Oscar-winning movie, The Green Book (2019). Today it is owned by the Shorter Chapel AME and is slated to be used as a community center; however, the structure has significant water damage and structural issues.
The Creekside house near the intersection of Franklin Road and Mack Hatcher was built in 1835, according to the Tennessee Historical Commission. Developer Capital Investment Group is currently proposing construction of a residential neighborhood on the property, on both sides of Franklin Road, of 33 single family homes and 32 multiplex buildings, each of which would contain four apartments.
Located at the crossroads of Carter Creek Pike and Southall Road, Beard’s Grocery & Market, a ca. 1900 building, has been a general store since around 1945. The crossroads has long been a community hub. Peter and Sue Scruggs, formally enslaved, operated a blacksmith shop, and later, a Standard Oil gas station occupied the spot. In 1947, Richard and Lera Beard placed their name on the store with Lera leaving the store in 1986. Operating as Halfway Market, the long-time store closed in June 2019. The store is in repairable condition but is experiencing road widening, a new traffic signal, altered drainage, and reduced the land around the former community hub.
The Frierson-Voorhies Cemetery is the final physical reminder of the once thriving African American Hardscuffle community in Brentwood. Hardscuffle, founded just after the Civil War by formerly enslaved people, began to decline after community members sold their property during the construction of the nearby Interstate 65. Without its community and ownership unclear, the cemetery has become neglected.
The Daniel McMahon house is a two-story frame and log residence located on the Franklin First United Methodist Church property near Franklin Road and Mack Hatcher. This home, added to the National Register in 1988, started around 1812 as a sprawling farm owned by one of the county's earliest settlers, Revolutionary War veteran Daniel McMahon. The house, long neglected, suffers from water damage, mold, and other issues.
The Nolensville Historic Corridor and business district along Nolensville Road continues to be threatened by development pressures. State Hwy 31, Nolensville Road, is a main thoroughfare between Nashville’s suburbs and Nolensville's own explosive growth. Increased traffic along the highway and new development may further impact the district and its historic integrity.
In early May 2020, the city of Brentwood announced plans to raze the historic Brentvale log cabin. Constructed in 1830 for William Temple Sneed at Old Smyrna Road, the structure was moved to Crockett Park in 1930 and enlarged by combining two log cabins.
Throughout Williamson County, historic cemeteries, like Pointer Cemetery in Spring Hill, are threatened by new subdivisions in once rural parts of the county. Early pioneer families, including Henry Pointer (1785-1864), and Civil War veterans are among those buried in the historic Pointer Cemetery.
Located in Arrington, this cemetery holds the final resting places of some the county’s earliest settlers and is threatened by the development of a subdivision off Cox Road. Its stone walls are said to contain the burial of David McCord (1745 – 1819) who served in the Revolutionary War, among other family members.
The Civil War earthworks off Spanntown Road in Triune spread across 500 acres and multiple private tracts is a Civil War fortification one preservation expert called “one of the most intact and unaltered set of Civil War earthworks in the U.S.” The earthworks provided protection as well as a crucial signaling station for U.S. soldiers to communicate between Franklin and Murfreesboro.
