The Harding family built the Belle Meade mansion in 1853 on a plantation that became one of the best-known thoroughbred horse farms in the country.
Enslaved people, and after the Civil War paid workers including groom Bob Green, trained the horses behind its fame.
The mansion is now a museum, and the surrounding city of Belle Meade took its name.
Timeline
- 1853The mansion is built.
- 1880sThe farm becomes a leading horse breeder.
- 1953Opens as a museum.
A farm's reputation was built by people whose names are only now being told.
