Evergreen Place was built in 1785/86 at 5007 Gallatin Pike near Briley Pkwy by Rev. Thomas Brown Craighead (1753-1824) and Elizabeth Brown Craighead (1755-1829). Craighead was brought in by James Robertson to start the area’s first Presbyterian congregation and, along with a $150 per year salary, was given 640 acres. The home was built in the village originally called Haysborough. He was also named to head Davidson Academy in 1785. Craighead moved from the property by 1795 when his second home Glen Echo was built.
The home was not occupied for about a quarter of a century until Anthony W. Johnson purchased it in 1826. Johnson was a real estate trader who improved the home. He enlarged the home, added a second floor and renovated it into a Greek Revival style.
Photo from Ron Harr/ Tennessean
Johnson then sold the property to the Demick family. The site was also known as Madison Station Plantation at that point. Then Carlos Demick (1826-1855) & Mary Narcissa Brown Demick (1830-1896) purchased the house and 277-acre property in 1854. Carlos was a lawyer. After Carlos’ death the following year, Mary married George Grant Bradford (1825-1866), another lawyer, and they continued residing at Evergreen.
Mary and George evergreen trees and named the property Evergreen Farms. During the Union occupation of Nashville during the Civil War, Bradford was imprisoned. He was forced to wash the steps of the state Capitol during the winter which aggravated his tuberculosis, and he died in 1866. For 136 years, the Bradford family and descendants lived on the property. George Grant Bradford, Jr. (1857-1938) and Martha Barlett Walton Bradford (1859-1939) resided next. Then George, Jr.’s sister Jean Carroll Bradford (1888-1943) owned the property. Next, a relative Sara Bradford Saunders and husband Joe with their family lived at Evergreen after Jean’s death. Sara was a writer and published Salt of the Earth. In 1980, the house and 5 acres were bought by Mary Reeves Davis (1929-1999), widow of country music star Jim Reeves. She opened a museum dedicated to him which remained open until early 1995 after which it was closed and empty for years.
The property was bought by Robert Moore and demolished in 2005. A Home Depot was erected on the site. The Craighead family named Evergreen Place. A few miles north of the original site, the area is remembered with Madison Station Plantation Rd., Saunders Ave., and Walton Lane. NRHP 2008 See Glen Echo-Craighead
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