Belle Meade Plantation - Early History, (1807-1865)

Early History, (1807-1865)

In 1807, Virginian John Harding bought Dunham's Station log cabin and 250 acres (100 ha) on the Natchez Trace. In the early years, Harding boarded horses for neighbors such as Andrew Jackson, and he was breeding thoroughbreds by 1816. John registered his own racing silks with the Nashville Jockey Club in 1823 and was training horses on the track at his McSpadden’s Bend Farm. He shipped grain to Charleston and New Orleans, and owned large tracts of land in Arkansas and Louisiana. In 1820, he began construction on a one-pile, five bay house with hyphen wings in the Federal style.

John’s son William Giles Harding was living on the McSpadden’s Bend property and worked with his father training horses. By the time William Giles assumed management of the Belle Meade plantation, he was keenly interested in all aspects of breeding and racing. He was active in several local jockey clubs and raced at all the area tracks including Clover Bottom, Gallatin, and Nashville. Shortly after taking over the operation of Belle Meade for his father in 1839, William Giles wrote a letter to the editor of the American Turf Register. In it he said, “Blood stock here is all the go. To be without it is to be out of fashion, and destitute of taste. So I too have procured a little of the real grit, which by-and-by I hope to increase.” And increase he did. Unlike his father, William Giles was more interested in improving the blood stock of Thoroughbreds than in racing itself. He saw racing as a means for properly selecting horses (sire and dam) to produce a quality Thoroughbred.

In 1853, the house on Belle Meade was altered and enlarged into a double-pile, five bay Greek-Revival style mansion by General William Giles Harding to reflect the success of the plantation. During this time, the Harding family prospered, building their domain into a 5,400-acre (22 km2) plantation that was renowned throughout the world for breeding champion Thoroughbred horses.