Franklin’s Charge, Inc. and the Battle of Franklin Trust have announced a purchase agreement to acquire more than two additional acres across the street, adjacent to the Carter House, ground that was originally the Carter family garden on Columbia Pike.
“What we’ve seen is overwhelming support on the local and national levels for reclaiming this land, and now we have another big challenge ahead of us,” said Franklin’s Charge Board Member Julian Bibb III. “Looking back a decade, and recognizing the Sesquicentennial of the Battle of Franklin in 2014, it’s incredible to think that we could have achieved so much in such a short amount of time. This is a testament to dedicated people working together to save something that matters, for the benefit of future generations.”
The $2.8 million contract allows Franklin’s Charge and Battle of Franklin Trust one year to raise the necessary funds to complete the transaction. With this acquisition, nearly 20 acres in downtown Franklin has been saved, and will collectively represent one of the largest urban public Civil War attractions in the nation.
This property, along with others on both sides of the street, will be interpreted with the help of a partnership between Franklin’s Charge, Inc. and the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area.
What the Civil War Trust named one of the nation’s most endangered battlefields a decade ago has now become an unprecedented model for battlefield reclamation in modern America. In the last few years, local preservationists have purchased seven private parcels now comprising nearly 20 acres, reclaiming “ground zero” of the Battle of Franklin from underneath development. Approximately seven acres on the east side of Columbia Pike will become Carter’s Hill Park later this year.
The non-profit Franklin’s Charge was formed in 2005, as a means to raise the necessary funds to acquire a 110-acre former golf course that now comprises the City of Franklin’s Eastern Flank Battlefield Park. The organization’s membership consists of representatives from: the African-American Heritage Society; the Battle of Franklin Trust; the Carter House Association; the Civil War Trust; Williamson Inc.; the Harpeth River Watershed Association; the Heritage Foundation of Franklin & Williamson County; Historic Carnton Inc.; the Land Trust for Tennessee; Save the Franklin Battlefield Association; the Tennessee Civil War Preservation Association; the Tennessee National Civil War Heritage Area; the Tennessee Preservation Trust; and the Williamson County Convention & Visitors Bureau. To learn more, visit www.franklinscharge.com.
The Battle of Franklin Trust is dedicated to a better understanding of the five bloodiest hours of the American Civil War. The non-profit organization, which operates the Carter House and Carnton Plantation, is dedicated to the charitable and educational purposes of preserving, restoring, maintaining and interpreting the properties, artifacts and documents related to the battle so as to preserve an important part of the nation’s history. For more, go to www.battleoffranklintrust.org.
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