One of Williamson County's most celebrated landmarks is the Carter House, located along Columbia Pike just south of Franklin. The home was built between 1828 and 1830 by Fountain Branch Carter, whose parents had erected the original homeplace-a small log structure located on present-day Waddell Hollow Road-in 1806 when they arrived in Williamson County from Virginia.

 

The book National Register Properties, Williamson County, Tennessee, describes the Carter home as a red brick house... [that is] basically Classic Revival in appearance with Doric columns, pediments, sidelights, and fanlights. The house has unusual stepped parapet gables culminating in the chimneys. The basement...is divided into three rooms, each with thick stone walls.

 

The homeplace also features the Carter House's original detached kitchen, office, toolshed, and smokehouse. Across Columbia Avenue, the Carter cotton gin, where some of the most vicious fighting in the battle took place, is in the process of being restored, and a small park has been created to commemorate the immediate area around the Carter House as ground zero of the Battle of Franklin.

 

The Carter House has undergone many changes over the years, including the temporary loss of its unusual parapet walls. Fortunately, however, it now stands in pristine condition just as it did on that late November day in 1864 when it became the focal point of the Battle of Franklin. The house was purchased by the State of Tennessee in 1951 and within two years was restored to its original condition. Long recognized as a site of especial importance to United States history, it was designated a National Historic Landmark by the Department of Interior in 1961.