Photo by Hal Jespersons
Rippavilla was built between 1852-1855 in Spring Hill by Nathaniel “Nat” Francis Cheairs IV (1818-1914) & Susan Peters McKissack Cheairs (1821-1893).
They married in 1841. The original farm was 1,500 acres awarded by President James Madison and built in Greek Revival style at 5700 Main St. The mansion has also be known as the Nathaniel Cheairs Home and Meadowbrook. For several generations, Cheairs men had married women named Sarah, and because he wished to continue the tradition, initially, Nathaniel’s father refused to bless the relationship between Nathaniel and Susan McKissack. McKissack’s father, William, was one of the wealthiest men in Maury County and operated a large brickyard. After some fruitless negotiation which included $5,000 to break off relations, William McKissack offered to provide free bricks to build the substantial house the couple intended to construct. His father, Nathaniel III, being a good businessman, relented with this great offer. The property remained in the Cheairs family until the 1920.
In that year, the Cheairs descendants sold Rippavilla out of the family to John Gordon Whitfield (1869-1943) and Pearl Zabel Whitfield (1887-1966) of Birmingham, AL. Whitfield had made a fortune with his ownership of Jefferson Fertilizer Company and a cottonseed products business. In 1920, he retired from those ventures and commenced investing in real estate including in Tennessee. The Rippavilla transaction was the largest farm deal in Maury County history at the time and included 887 acres surrounding the mansion in Spring Hill. At that point, the original Greek Revival style was extensively remodeled into Colonial Revival style. The Whitfields created the boating and fishing lake and built the fence that surrounds the property. He renamed the mansion Meadowbrook. While the Whitfields improved their Spring Hill estate, their primary residence was in Sarasota, FL.
In 1925, they sold Rippavilla and moved permanently to their Sarasota property. Next, Persis Daniel (P.D.) Houston, Jr. (1874-1956) and Margaret Louise Robinson Houston (1874-?) were the next owners in 1925. They wed in 1894. The Houstons owned a home in Belle Meade and used Rippavilla as a weekend retreat. Houston was the first Nashvilian elected president of American National Bank. At this point, the farm comprised 884 acres on part of which Houston raised a herd of Black Angus cattle. P.D.’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. Houston, had swapped their home on Belmont Blvd with another family to own Sylvan Hall
A couple years after P.D. Houston’s death, Houston Hall was sold in 1958 to John H. Sharrit, a Columbia native who lived and worked in Phoenix, AZ. The property was an investment for him, and he arranged for a local manager to run operations. Sharrit sold the whole 887 acre farm to local businessmen, L.D. Hill and Fred A. Greer. They divided the property into 5 tracts and sold them. The University of Tennessee bought 275 acres for its Tennessee Experiment Station (now UT Institute of Agriculture Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center) which it had opened in 1917.
In 1959-60, Ruby Mae Davis Loftin with daughters, Bobbie Jean Gray and Ollie Ruth Davis, purchased the mansion and 48 acres of remaining land. She was also a local and a businesswoman. The name returned to Rippavilla. In 1960, Hesta Petty Witherspoon and Robert K. Witherspoon purchased the property. They ended up divorcing 5 years later in 1965, and it appears Hesta remained at the mansion.
After Hesta died, she willed Rippavilla to her sister Joy Petty Rasbury (?-2012). She was married to Victor Stewart Rasbury (1930-2016). They wed in 1953. They lived on their Rasbury-Petty farm in Maury Co. which is a Century Farm. Victor was on the board of directors of Dairymen Inc. He was a lifelong farmer and stockman aside from his service in the U.S. Navy.
At that point, because General Motors, management and developers were buying up a tremendous amount of land in the Spring Hill area, the Rasburys negotiated to sell the mansion and property to preserve it. They sold Rippavilla to the Maury County Industrial Board in 1985 which leased it t Saturn Corp. The company kept Rippavilla as an historic house with 98 acres for the public. According to news reports, GM’s Saturn car project in Spring Hill of $5B was reportedly the largest single industrial development in American history at the time. In 1995, Rippavilla Plantation was incorporated as a 501-C3. In 2017, the City of Spring Hill purchased Rippavilla Plantation, and Friends of Rippavilla LLC will manage the property. NRHP 1996 See Sylvan Hall
Sources:
http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/special-sections/rippavilla-plantation-was-once-known-rippo-villa
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