"Queen of Tennessee plantations," began in 1807 when John Harding bought Virginia Dunham log cabin resort and 250 acres on the Natchez Trace. For the next 100 years the family prospered Harding, construction of a plantation area of ​​5,400 hectares, which has become internationally recognized as a breeding of thoroughbred horses. In the early years, he mounted the horse Harding for neighboring countries such as Andrew Jackson, and had a flock of pure-blood of the 1816th He sent grain to Charleston and New Orleans, and belonging to large tracts of land in Arkansas and Louisiana. In 1853, the son of John Harding, William Giles Harding, mansion completed, doubling its size and add porch and columns, which are solid limestone. Belle Meade Plantation was a fantastic example of the greatness of Greek Revival architecture Southeast Ante BELLEME.

Harding was very wealthy, very much in favor of secession and donated $ 500,000 to the Southern cause. When the feds occupied Nashville in February 1862, Smith was arrested and sent north to be imprisoned at Fort Mackinac, Michigan. His wife, Elizabeth McGavock, was left to care for the plantation. In September, Harding was paroled and returned to Belle Meade. Belle Meade Plantation was the home of Confederate General James R. Chalmers command of Nathan Bedford Forrest Cavalry before the battle of Nashville (December 1864). The first day of battle, Union soldiers burned the cars parked on the racetrack while Chalmers was Rebelde elsewhere. Back to Belle Meade, Chalmers men load the Yankees and drove them back before running into a camp of the enemy infantry. The Yankees fired as the cavalry galloped back past the mansion, where Selene Harding, nineteen, waving a handkerchief in spite of bullets around him. Bullet holes are still visible in the columns of the porch

After the war, William Harding transferred control of the estate to his son in law, William Jackson, a West Point graduate, who had commanded a cavalry division under Gen. SD Lee in Mississippi and Louisiana. Under Jackson's tutelage, Belle Meade (French for "beautiful meadow") became a thoroughbred farm and venue of international renown. The farm has sold breeding horses, Alderney cattle, sheep, Cotswold, and cashmere goats. The area also has an extensive deer park of 600 acres. At its sale in 1904, Belle Meade was the oldest thoroughbred farm in the United States. In 1953, Belle Meade Mansion and eight units and 30 acres were sold to the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities. Today, the Belle Meade Plantation is the most popular attractions in Nashville and run by the Nashville chapter of the Association.

Belle Mead Plantation Key tasks for 1853 (a restored, elegant Victorian era), 1890 Carriage House and Stable, and 1790 log cabin, one of the oldest in Tennessee.