Horseshoe Hill: My Old Neighborhood
4411 Herbert Place Nashville, TN
Circa early 1930s. 2-story brick Georgian
William "Will" L. Horn (?-1935) had lived in two other historic homes: first in Horn House in East Nashville and then Lone Oak in Green Hills since 1925. He was a realtor and banker. His second wife was Emma Black Horn. After retiring from real estate, Horn became a vice-president of State Mutual Building & Loan Association and vice-president of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Nashville.
From Zillow
In the early 1930s, he moved his family to the latest extension of Belle Meade - 4411 Herbert Place. They built Horseshoe Hill on a new estate was surrounded by 63 acres along Richland Creek. Originally, it had an entrance from Chickering Rd. Sadly, Horn only enjoyed the new home a few years. Evidently, at a later point, Belle Meade Country Club tried to buy a right-of-way through the Horn property to buy the Tyne's Longleat property for a second golf course - obviously, that did not materialize.
After Emma passed away, the home was vacant until 1957 when Dudley Clark Fort (1911-1994) and (Victoria) Pearl Fort (1906-1990) purchased it. Horseshoe Hill estate stretched from Belle Meade BL to near the Tyne property. Dudley was part of the Fort clan - Fortland. Fort was superintendent of the Atlanta office of National Life & Accident Company prior to his retirement. Fort kept his horse in pasture along Chickering Rd. Pearl was a floral designer and named the home Horseshoe Hill. By the early 1960s, they began to sell portions of the land and moved their horses to the farm of his sister, Louise Fort Linton. His sister Cornelia Fort was a pioneer femael aviator. She perished in the line of service during World War II, and Cornelia Fort Airport in Nashville is named in her honor. Realtors, Jim Gillespie and George T. Hicks developed the new areas - Chancery Lane, Herbert Place and Georgian Place neighborhoods. [I grew up on Chancery Lane.] When Herbert Place was cut through, the Forts had to change their driveway and it became a very short one off the new road.
In 2011, the Fort heirs Arthur and Mary Fort sold the home to Jon and (Margaret) Keith Smythe Meacham purchased the home with 4 acres and have renovated it with help from a New York firm and local historical renovation architect Ridley Wills III. Jon is the former editor-in-chief of Newsweek, a Vanderbilt professor, and award-winning author of many books. Keith is founder of the online home goods shop Reed Smythe & Company. The home is a past Jr. League of Nashville Show House. See Lone Oak, Horn House/ Williams House, Fortland
Sources:
Nashville Pikes: Chickering Rd., Ridley Wills, p. 44
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