The building played an important, if ignoble, role in U.S. history. In August 1830, three months after President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, he met with Chickasaw Nation representatives at the Masonic Hall to negotiate the Treaty of Franklin. This was the first and only time a president met with an Indian council to negotiate a treaty, which resulted in the removal of the Chickasaw from their homelands, the commencement of the Trail of Tears, and the acceleration of westward expansion by the United States. While President Jackson met with the group, he did not sign the treaty itself. It was signed by two members of his cabinet, Secretary of War John Eaton, a native of Franklin, and Indian Commissioner John Coffee.

Occupied by Confederate and Federal soldiers during the Civil War, the Hall suffered significant damage during the Battle of Franklin (1864) but was later restored. The Masons received funds from the United States government in 1916 for damages done during the war and used the funds to raise the front parapet walls, relocating the staircase all the way to the third floor on the northwest side of the Hall.

Designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior through the National Park Service, the Hall still serves the Hiram Lodge No. 7 today, but faces many structural challenges.

In 1830, Moses Speer had obtained approximately 2,000 acres around the furnace, as well as a tract of land on Turnbull Creek that contained an ore bank.  He brought the raw materials to the furnace over land by heavy wagons.

Over the next decade, the furnace changed hands several times and was even auctioned off. It eventually passed into the hands of the Perkins family, but there is no evidence that the furnace was ever put into blast again. 

MTSU says the presence of a slag pile near the ruins is proof that some iron had been produced here, but by 1849 the furnace was reported to be out of use by a contemporary trade journal.  It is believed that the columns of the historic Williamson County Courthouse on the square were cast in 1857 at Pugh & Company’s Franklin Foundry from pig iron manufactured at this Williamson Furnace.

But the site itself, currently owned by a development company, has deteriorated under heavy plant growth and neglect over the past century. The 26 acres surrounding the furnace ruin were purchased in Fall 2020 for potential development, and the owner is open to working with a preservation-minded donor to restore and fence off what remains of the furnace, with interpretive signage.

In 1814 son Stephen Nolen received land from his father on Mill Creek. In 1828 Stephen sold 122 acres of that land to James Johnson. Over the next few decades, the tract was sold off in smaller parcels until in 1874 it came under the ownership of Sherwood Jenkins, who is thought to have built the house standing on the remaining 12 acres at the corner of Nolensville Road and Clovercroft/Rocky Fork roads today.

According to the book Nolensville 1797-1987, Federal troops camped on the property during the Civil War, and relics have been found to support that.

Along with the efforts of elected officials and the historic commission, one reason Nolensville has been slower to develop than other towns in Williamson County is the lack of direct interstate access. Many of the large farmsteads are still intact, but expansion of utilities and roads brings change. The realignment a few years ago of Clovercroft and Rocky Fork roads brought a traffic light to Nolensville Road, and recent changes to the town’s downtown zoning made that intersection an attractive location for larger-scale commercial development than was previously allowed in the area.

In fact, major grocery chains have expressed interest in the properties around that intersection. While this use is a natural fit for a growing area with so many families, it also would be a significant change for Nolensville’s smaller scale historic downtown.

For decades, developers of residential subdivisions in Williamson County have gotten accustomed to working with historic homes, usually converting them into a neighborhood clubhouse or selling them as a private home situated among the new homes. That use is not typical in commercial developments, which is what makes these farmhouse properties vulnerable.

It’s a similar situation Nolensville faced in 2019 when the c.1870 Morton Brittain house faced demolition when the land it occupied was purchased for commercial development. After a last-minute scramble, preservationists were able to secure funding to move the home to another location. The historical society hopes to be more proactive as Nolensville feels the burden of more growth.

A subdivision is not an unexpected proposal for this tract along a state highway and the Mack Hatcher bypass, but the history of this site has barely been told. The Creekside home is significant for its age and also because it was the home of Sarah Florence McEwen Adkerson (1846-1867), who was one of the daughters of John B. McEwen, mayor of Franklin during the Civil War. The property became heavily used during Federal occupation in 1863 and, sitting directly off of Franklin Road, witnessed troop movements following the Battles of Franklin and Nashville. Sarah married Rev. W.L. Rosser in 1866 and died a year later in childbirth at age 20, but her only child Florence Rosser Adkerson (1867-1951) lived on the property her entire life.

The developers of the current proposal say they intend to make the home a significant feature of the neighborhood entrance, but any large-scale development would be a major change to downtown Franklin’s northern gateway.