Adelicia Hayes

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The Belmont Mansion

Adelicia Hayes was born in 1817 on the Ides of March to a prominent Nashville family. At age 22, she married Isaac Franklin, a wealthy businessman and planter, 28 years her senior. During their seven years of marriage, they had four children-all of whom died by age eleven. Mr. Franklin's death in 1846 left Adelicia an estate valued at one million dollars which included 8,700 acres of cotton plantations in Louisiana; "Fairvue", a 2,000 acre farm in Tennessee; 38,000 acres in Texas; stocks, bonds, and 750 slaves.

The Acklen Estate

In 1849, Adelicia married Joseph Acklen from Huntsville, Alabama. They began the building of Belmont soon after their marriage, and completed it in 1853. Belmont was built in the style of an Italian villa set in elaborate gardens with numerous outbuildings. The water tower, still standing, provided irrigation for the gardens and water to run the fountains. There was a two hundred foot long greenhouse, an art gallery, gazebos, a bowling alley, bear house and zoo. Mrs. Acklen opened the estate for the citizens of Nashville, as there was no public park available.

Adelicia Acklen

By1859, six children were born to Joseph and Adelicia, Twin daughters, however, died at the age of two from scarlet fever. In 1859, the Acklens hired Adolphus Heiman to enlarge and remodel Belmont. Enclosing the back porch, he created what architectural historians call the most elaborate domestic space built in antebellum Tennessee... the Grand Salon. With this addition, Belmont contained thirty-six rooms with 10,900 square feet of living space and 9,400 square feet of service area in the basement. The house was filled with fine furniture, paintings, and original statues by American artists. Four of the five major marble statues remain in the house today. Adelicia's husband died during the Civil War, leaving 2,800 bales of Acklen cotton threatened by Confederate troops. Unwilling to lose her fortune, Adelicia traveled to Louisiana and singlehandedly "negotiated" the illegal sale of her cotton to England, netting her $960,000 in gold.