931 Red River Rd. Gallatin, TN
Circa 1827 as Federal style/ 1850 remodeled
Near East Station Camp Creek, Wall Spring was actually built in two stages. Col. George Elliott (1781-1861) and Mary Odom Elliott (1785-1859) constructed a 1.5 story Federal brick house. Elliott was a veteran of the Creek Wars as well as the Battle of New Orleans. He was offered command of the Florida forces by Gen. Andrew Jackson but declined and retired by 1813. Elliott was an important figure in Tennessee’s thoroughbred horse breeding before the Civil War. He had a successful breeding operation by 1820, built a famous racetrack near his home, and co-founded the Nashville Jockey Club in 1807. About 1850, a major remodeling into Greek Revival and Italianate style occurred. His brother, Charles Elliott, owned Walnut Grove.
After Elliott died, in 1861, Elliott’s heirs sold the property to John W. Walton who kept it until 1881 when he sold Elliott Springs to James Alexander. Several families lived there - Walton, Garrett, Hite, Miller - until Judge Bennett Douglas Bell (1852-1934) and Lilly Cartwright Bell owned it. They wed in 1882. Lilly’s parents were Jacob and Patience Cartwright of Cartwright-Moss Home. Judge Bell’s great-great-grandfather held the first court in Sumner County.
Judge Bell renamed the property Bellwood in 1905. After graduating from Cumberland University in 1878, Bell was elected Attorney General of the Ninth circuit the next year and served for 8 years. From 1900-1908, Judge Bell was a judge of the Ninth circuit again. In 1908, he was elected to the Supreme Court of Tennessee. Judge Bell was a great promoter of the interurban railway from Nashville to Gallatin, and after its completion, moved his family to Nashville and then commuted to Gallatin. The next owner was Judge John Walters Judd (1839-1919). Judge Judd had learned the coachmaker trade and then became an attorney. He enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil War, fought in several battles and was severely wounded at least twice. After the Civil War, he resumed his law practice. In 1888, he was appointed by Pres. Cleveland as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in first the District and then the State of Utah. He resigned from that position and in 1899 became the assistant District Attorney for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad until 1907. He then taught full time in the Law Department at Vanderbilt University. He married Lee Gilbert Miller Gilbert (1840-1875) in 1870.
After Lee’s death, Judge Judd then married Eliza Holcomb Bayless (1852-1935) in 1881. Eliza sold Bellwood in 1919 to Albert Bradley. Then Sam Sterling Belote (1918-1993) and Mary Elizabeth “Betty” Anthony Belote (1923-2009) owned it. Betty was very involved in the community including Sumner Regional, Sumner Hospice, Cragfont, Wynnewood and Rose Mont historic homes. She won the Cecil Saunders Award from Sumner Regional Medical Center. They sold the property to Richard and Victoria G. Laws. Victoria has been sole owner of the home and its 3 acres since 1986. Each of the property names reflect the ownership. It also came from the nice spring on East Station Camp Creek. NRHP 1994 See Cartwright-Moss Home, Walnut Grove
Photo by rossograph
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Thank you for posting this information about this about Wall Spring. Judge John Walters Judd is my Great Great Grandfather and I have always wanted to see a picture of this home. I inherited the wedding band of Eliza Holcomb Bayless, so it is neat to see where it once was worn!