Slavery, (1807-1865)
Prior to the end of the American Civil War, Belle Meade Plantation was home to a large population of enslaved African Americans. The Harding family was one of the largest slave-holding families in Nashville. John Harding brought two slaves with him when he settled at Dunham’s Station. Ben worked in the farm’s blacksmiths shop. A domestic servant named Dicey had been purchased from Giles Harding for seventy dollars on October 6, 1806. It may be inferred from the low selling-price that Dicey was an older woman, probably past childbearing age; she may have helped to rear John Harding in his youth. John purchased four slaves in 1807: Ned, Isaac, Jenny, and Molly. In 1810 John inherited Patrick, a common laborer, from his father; Giles Harding’s will implies that Patrick had worked at Belle Meade previously but was not legally transferred until that year. Initially, John and Susannah Harding worked side by side with their enslaved workers to operate the farm. John often traveled the Natchez Trace buying and selling both land and slaves.
Over the years, Belle Meade’s population grew steadily. As the farm became more specialized many of the enslaved workers developed skills, including millwork, stonemasonry, woodworking, and blacksmithing. Other laborers worked as house servants. Small parts of the farm’s enslaved population were field hands, but at harvest time other workers were pulled from their jobs to work in the fields. As a blacksmith Ben was more valuable and difficult to replace than a typical slave; he ran away in 1818 and was never found. The same year John Harding purchased Ned, who escaped after only a few months. Skilled laborers who escaped slavery faced less difficulty in securing jobs in Free states and territories than field workers. It is probable that Belle Meade Plantation had at least two sets of quarters for enslaved workers and possible two cemeteries. Whitewashed cabins near the mansion housed domestic servants and skilled laborers. A second set of cabins may have existed near the “high pasture;” these less elaborate quarters would have housed field hands.
Cemeteries were generally designated by the master of the farm and were often a mile of more distant from the enslaved workers dwellings. Most funerals in the slave community were held at night. After the work day families carried the deceased to the cemetery while they sang. Although most of the enslaved population of Belle Meade lived in the quarters, some actually lived in the mansion. Each member of the Harding family had a personal servant to attend to their needs, both at home and while traveling. Enslaved attendants usually slept at the foot of the bed of their master or mistress. Enslaved women with children near the age of those of their master served as wet nurses and nannies, tending and nursing their master’s children along side their own.
During the 1850s William Giles Harding chaired a committee charged with enforcing the expatriation from Tennessee of all unauthorized free African-Americans within Davidson County; this action was fueled by worry over supposed plots for slave insurrection and paranoia in slave-holding society. After the end of the institution of slavery in Tennessee, Harding refused to even entertain the notion of using Belle Meade’s resources to educate freedmen. Although William may have been relatively benevolent in his management of Belle Meade, he clearly did not believe that African-Americans should be given opportunities equal to those of white citizens.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, most of Belle Meade Plantation’s formerly enslaved families left their homes on the farm, but did not necessarily leave their jobs. While living in their own communities, many continued to work at Belle Meade. The Tolbert Community, located near Bellevue, was one of the first of these settlements established after the war and may have been populated by laborers from Belle Meade. Some families continued to live at Belle Meade’s old slave quarters; as the old cabins became dilapidated, new dwellings were constructed nearby. Descendents of the farm’s enslaved families lived in local cabins until the 1970s, when the quarters were demolished by neighborhood construction.
Read more about this topic: Belle Meade Plantation