This antebellum beauty is the Tarpley Farm in Walter Hill, Tennessee. William Searcy moved from North Carolina to Rutherford county in 1803, the year is became a county! He aquired quite a lot of land and planted his first crop in this area in 1804. It’s not clear if he or his son Anderson was responsible for the constructing of the home in 1830, but they both resided here with their family. After the Civil War, the property came into ownership of Wiilliam’s grandson, Anderson Searcy, Jr who made renovations to the house.
In 1895, Anderson Searcy Jr’s son-in-law, A. J. Matthews, took possession of the estate and farmed the land until his death in 1936. The estate switched hands in the family and landed with Thomas M. Tarpley and his wife, Jane Matthews Tarpley. They made several more renovations, but left the farming to E. E. Matthews Jr, Jane’s brother. The farm has remained in the family since and is a Tennessee Century Farm which means this land has been owned and farmed by the same family for over 100 years. It’s also on the Nation Register of Historic Places.
It’s the perfect example of an I-house with dominating two-story Greek revival portico. There are some 10 outbuildings on the property including a milk barn and carriage house. Some of the products of this farm were beef cattle, hay, corn, tobacco, soybeans, wheat, pigs, and dairy cattle. WHEW, they were busy! Over the years they have withstood immense development pressure, but this historic estate remains intact amid modern development. What a beautiful thing that it has been in the family for so long! It was as an event location known as “The Jefferson Manor” in recent years, but no longer holds events.
