The Heritage
Center’s primary and permanent exhibit is entitled, “The Time that Changed
Everything” which shares moving and personal accounts of local residents who
lived through the antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction eras.&nbsp; It features numerous interactive artifacts to
include a writing desk, soldier’s tent and school benches that incorporate
reproductions of period diaries, games and textbooks.

Other
exhibits are rotated at the Heritage Center and recent ones have included “Bittersweet
Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964” that provided information on the
migrant Mexican worker program and Rutherford County’s role in it, and “Entering
the Modern Era” which focused on the Jazz Age and its influence on the area as
it entered the early 20th century.&nbsp;
As for educational events, the Center recently sponsored a lecture and
presentation on the Trail of Tears and life in Murfreesboro in the late 1830s.

Free guided
tours are offered on the hour and the Center’s docents provide regular tours of
Murfreesboro’s historic downtown square.&nbsp;
Other tours include the Rutherford County Historic Cemetery Tour.&nbsp; Finally, the Center also features a
wall-sized Civil War mural painted by local professor and artist, Erin
Anfinson.&nbsp;

Period actor portraying Abraham Lincoln visits the center.

Educational program in progress at the Heritage Center.

The Heritage Center's website with info on its exhibits and upcoming and past events.

Website

The Heritage Center's Facebook page with photos, info, and comments.

More Info

Excerpt from a lecture on the Rutherford County Cemetery Project delivered at the Heritage Center. 

Video

Opened in 2006 and free to the public, the Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County serves as both a museum and visitor’s orientation center that directs people to historic sites and events throughout the area.  Within that dual capacity, it is dedicated to conveying the significant stories of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County with special emphasis placed on the area before, during and after the Civil War.  It completes this task through varying exhibits, public programs, educational events and local tours.

Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

Contributor

This tour includes several historic homes and landmarks such as the Rutherford County Courthouse. The tour concludes at Cannonsburgh Village. We hope to add new entries to the tour in the near future. 

Named after Revolutionary War veteran, John Bradley, who donated the land for the original school near Jefferson, Bradley Academy was initially a school for white males.&nbsp; Two of its more famous graduates were John Bell, who ran for president in 1860 and our 11th President, James K.&nbsp;Polk.&nbsp; The log cabin school was relocated to Murfreesboro in the 1850s and became an African-American school shortly after that.&nbsp; A new building was built in 1917-18 and remained the primary educational center for African-Americans in the county until Holloway High School was built in 1928.

The Academy was again moved in 1955 to Mercury Boulevard, and the old school was converted into a maintenance facility for the Murfreesboro City Schools.&nbsp; It fell into disrepair until the Bradley Academy Historical Association was formed in 1990 to raise funds to restore the historic building.&nbsp; It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places that same year.&nbsp; After ten years of fundraising and restoration efforts, the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center opened in 2000.

The primary exhibits now on display in the museum include those dedicated to the 19th-century history of Rutherford County, the Bradley Academy, and Holloway High School Exhibit, the US Colored Troops Civil War Exhibit, the Underground Railroad Exhibit and the restored Heritage Classroom.&nbsp; Each exhibit includes numerous historical photos, documents, artifacts and paintings by local artist Steve Matthews.&nbsp;

Opened in 2000, the Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center provides visitors with a rich history lesson of Rutherford County with special emphasis placed on the African-American experience in the area.  Originally established in 1811, Bradley Academy was the first school in the county and the present-day Academy building, built in 1917 and opened in 1918, is now home to various historical exhibits and interpretive displays.

Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center

By the 1880s, the African American community of Murfreesboro had grown to include neighborhoods on the east side of the city as well as the south side neighborhood. This church was a product of that growth, as church members donated funds and labor to build the foundation and the structure. Members such as Dav Hude Sr. dug the foundation of the building by hand while other men fired clay to form bricks, built the basement, and laid the cornerstone of the building in the spring of 1889. The structure was complete by the time of the statewide A.M.E. conference in October.&nbsp;

This historic church edifice was built in 1889 and serves a congregation that was established by former slaves in 1866. The congregation built two other frame church buildings prior to the construction of this stately brick sanctuary. Not only is the congregation the oldest of its kind in the county, but it also represents the oldest independent Black organization still in existence in Murfreesboro. In 1870, this growing congregation was selected to host the state's A.M.E. conference. 

Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church

Joseph Benjamin Palmer
was born in Bedford County in 1825. He first came to Murfreesboro to attend
Union University. After being admitted to the state bar, Palmer stayed in
Murfreesboro and operated a law office. He became involved in local politics
and for years was an active member of the Whig Party. From 1856 to 1859 he
served as Mayor of Murfreesboro. When the Civil War began in 1861 Palmer sided
with the Confederacy, reportedly due to his opposition to Abraham Lincoln’s
call for volunteers to suppress the secession. Palmer organized the 18th
Tennessee Infantry Regiment and was elected its colonel. He and his regiment
served in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

Palmer had a storied
career in the Confederate military that was ultimately dominated by failures.
In 1862 he was captured by Ulysses S. Grant’s forces at the Battle of Fort
Donelson and spent eight months as a prisoner of war in Boston. After being
exchanged Palmer fought in the Battles of Murfreesboro and Chickamauga, and was
seriously wounded on both occasions. He was promoted to Brigadier General in
1864. He participated in the Battles of Franklin and Nashville and subsequently
covered General John Bell Hood’s retreat from Tennessee. Towards the end of the
war Palmer’s forces traveled to the Carolinas and were absorbed into General Joseph
Johnston’s Army of the South. Under Johnston, Palmer fought in the Battle of
Bentonville on March 19, 1865, one of the last engagements of the war. 

After the war Palmer
returned to Murfreesboro and resumed his law practice. In 1869 he erected an 18-room,
brick mansion on East Main Street as a wedding present for his new bride. The
architect for the structure is unknown, but it was designed in the Italianate
style, which was popular during the mid-1800s. Palmer lived in the home until
his death in 1890. His heirs sold the house to George Beesley in 1918. In 1943
it was acquired by Edward Carmack Jr., the son of U.S. Senator and newspaper
editor Edward Carmack Sr. Carmack Jr. was the editor of the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal and was plagued by a
lifelong series of failed business ventures and runs for political office. His
behavior was erratic at times; reportedly he continually claimed to have
murdered a man named Robin Cooper, even though all the evidence pointed against
him committing the crime. Carmack died in the Palmer House in 1972, leaving
behind a handwritten will distributing his assets to fourteen beneficiaries
over the course of twenty years. The home was soon sold at auction and today
remains a private residence.

The General Joseph B. Palmer House is a historic residence on East Main Street in Murfreesboro. The Italianate-style home was built in 1869 by Joseph Palmer (1825-1890), a prominent local lawyer and politician. Palmer served as a Brigadier General in the Confederate military during the Civil War, and participated in many of the most important engagements in Tennessee. After the war he built this house as a wedding present for his new wife. Decades later the home was occupied by Edward Carmack Jr., a newspaper editor and failed businessman, from 1943 to 1972. In 1973 the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It remains a private residence and is not open to the public. 

Gen. Joseph B. Palmer House

John Whitsett Childress
was born in Sumner County, Tennessee in 1807 and moved to Murfreesboro with his
family in 1819. He graduated from the University of North Carolina and returned
to Tennessee to begin a career as a lawyer and farmer. In 1824, his sister
Sarah Childress married James K. Polk, the future eleventh President of the
United States. John Childress had a distinguished and varied career in Tennessee;
besides practicing law and farming, he served at different times as attorney
general pro tem, circuit judge in Nashville, director of the Nashville and
Chattanooga Railroad, director of the Bank of Tennessee, president of the
Planter’s Bank of Tennessee, and president of the First National Bank of Murfreesboro.
During the Civil War Childress moved his family to Griffin, Georgia for safety.
Around this time his daughter Betty Childress married Confederate General John
Calvin Brown, who later became governor of Tennessee. 

In 1874 Childress
returned to Murfreesboro after spending several years in Nashville and
purchased a home on North Academy Street. The two-story, brick, Greek Revival
style home was constructed in 1847 by contractor Jim Fletcher for Jim Bevins. When
Childress bought the house he made some renovations, adding features of the popular
new Italianate style such as a center pavilion. Sarah Childress Polk, now
widowed and living in Nashville, was reported to have visited her brother at
the house on occasion. Her visits were often marked by parties and social
gatherings. John Childress died in 1884; his family sold the house in 1900 to
P. R. Miller. In 1913 a tornado destroyed the front porches, which Miller
replaced with new ones in the Colonial Revival style. Miller sold the house to
circuit court clerk Barclay Rucker in 1920.

In 1927 the house was
purchased by Thomas B. Newsom and his family. Among them was Thomas’ youngest
daughter, Mary Newsom Ray. Ray would live in the home, first with her parents
and later her husband Thomas Kelly Ray, for over eight decades. She became a
founding member of the Rutherford County Historical Society and was an avid antique
collector. At the time of her passing in 2015 she had amassed a collection
consisting of thousands of rare and valuable items, including some from the
Andrew Jackson administration. During Ray’s lifetime the house became
recognized for its historic value by the National Register of Historic Places,
the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities, and the
Murfreesboro Architectural and Zoning Society. Today the Childress-Ray House
remains privately owned and is currently being used for short-term rents.

The Childress-Ray House is a historic residence on North Academy Street. It is notable for reflecting the changing architectural tastes in Tennessee during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Originally built in 1847 as a Greek Revival dwelling, it underwent renovations over the years that consequently gave it elements of Italianate and Colonial Revival architecture. The house is named after two of its most prominent occupants: John Childress, a businessman, statesman, and brother-in-law of President James K. Polk; and Alice Newsom Ray, a founding member of the Rutherford County Historical Society who lived in the home from 1927 until her death in 2015. Today the house remains privately owned and is available for short-term rents on Airbnb. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. 

Childress-Ray House

The First Presbyterian
Church traces its origins back to June 1811, when the Rev. Robert Henderson
came to service the Presbyterian residents of what is now Murfreesboro. In
April 1812 the Presbyterian community formally established the Murfree Spring
Church; the name would change to the First Presbyterian Church, Murfreesboro in
1818. Originally congregants worshipped in a log structure on the property of
Colonel Hardy Murfree. Around 1820 the church’s first permanent sanctuary was
constructed on Vine Street. The brick building was said to be one of the
fanciest structures in Rutherford County at the time, and featured a five-story
bell tower. Members of the congregation were buried in a graveyard adjacent to
the church; in 1837 it expanded and evolved into a public burial ground, today
known as the Old City Cemetery. In August 1822 the church hosted a special
session of the Tennessee state general assembly. During this session the
assembly voted to endorse Andrew Jackson for the presidency. 

The church was hit hard
by the effects of the Civil War. The sanctuary served as a hospital for
Confederate soldiers during the Battle of Stones River, and afterwards was a
hospital for Union soldiers during the occupation of Murfreesboro. Troops also
set up camps in the area surrounding the church and cemetery. Sometime between
the winter of 1863 and the spring of 1864 the church building was demolished.
Details surrounding the circumstances behind its destruction are uncertain;
some reports claim that Union soldiers began taking bricks from the building to
make fireplaces for their shelters. Other accounts add that the soldiers
desecrated the cemetery as well, destroying tombstones. From 1862 until July
1864 it appears that the congregation did not assemble. Towards the end of the
war the church reemerged and in 1865 it filed a claim for damages from the
federal government; after years of efforts, the church was awarded $6,500 in
damages in 1899.

In 1867 the First
Presbyterian church purchased a lot on the corner of Spring and College Streets.
A new Gothic Revival style church building was constructed on the property and
designed by Nashville architect W. A. Kiddell. In 1913 the building was heavily
damaged by a tornado. Almost immediately the congregation moved to build a new
structure on the same spot, with construction completed by 1914. The new
building was constructed and possibly designed by the construction firm of
Maugans and Bell in the popular Classical Revival style. Additional sections were
built in 1959 and 1998. In 1993 the church was added to the National Register
of Historic Places on the grounds that it was an ideal example of Classical
Revival architecture. The First Presbyterian Church remains in operation and holds
regular services.

This historic Murfreesboro church dates back to 1812 when the congregation maintained a modest church edifice at what is now the Old City Cemetery. During the Civil War, that structure was occupied and eventually destroyed by Union troops. A new sanctuary was built at the church’s present location on North Spring Street in 1867. In 1913, that building was mostly destroyed by a tornado. The congregation responded by building this Classical Revival style structure on the same spot within less than a year. This 1914 church continues to serve the congregation and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

First Presbyterian Church of Murfreesboro

Built in a classical revival style, the Rutherford County Courthouse was built at a cost of $50,000 in 1859.&nbsp; The grounds and courthouse were occupied by both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War as Nathan Bedford Forrest’s troops occupied the area from July 1862 until the conclusion of the Battle of Stones River in January of 1863.&nbsp; It then served as the headquarters of the occupying Union forces in the area until the end of the Civil War.

The courthouse survived a tornado that hit Murfreesboro in 1913 with only minor damage.&nbsp; The wings were added to the courthouse by 1962 and the interior was renovated in 1998 to better reflect the courthouse’s 19th-century origins.&nbsp;

Over the years, two serious attempts were made to replace the historic building with a modern structure. The first of these attempts occurred between 1936 and 1938 and the second occurred in 1950. Both of these campaigns were aimed at increasing the space available for county offices and both failed because of the expense of creating a new building and a general desire to preserve the existing courthouse. This sentiment was especially strong in 1950.&nbsp;While the building has remained in place, there have been numerous renovations and several monuments and memorials have been added to the courthouse grounds. They include two plaques in memory of General Forrest’s raid, a Confederate soldier’s monument, one dedicated to Revolutionary War General Griffith Rutherford, a memorial dedicated to law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, and a memorial to veterans of foreign wars, among others.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Built in 1859, the Rutherford County Courthouse is one of only six antebellum courthouses within the state of Tennessee.  The original courthouse, built in 1813 on the same site, burned down in 1822 and had served as the state capitol building.  The current courthouse and grounds both played important roles in the Civil War.  The courthouse now serves as the administrative headquarters for the Rutherford County government and is home to the county’s legislative body.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Rutherford County Courthouse

Construction
began on Cannonsburgh Village in 1974 and it was completed in 1976, just in
time for the country’s bicentennial celebrations.&nbsp; One enters the village over a vintage iron
bridge, complete with toll gate.&nbsp; Its
collection of historical buildings include a gristmill with working water
wheel, the Leeman House, the Wedding Chapel, town hall, doctor’s office, general
store, and the Anderson Blacksmith’s Shop which is still operational and offers
smithing classes.&nbsp; The village is also
home to what is claimed to be the world’s largest cedar bucket.

Other attractions
at the village include the C. N. Haynes Museum which houses antique farm
equipment and other 18th century artifacts and the Murfreesboro Art League’s
gallery.&nbsp; The Stone’s River Car Club also
has its headquarters at the village in the form of a reconstructed 1920s gas
station and garage.&nbsp; This garage contains
an original 1934 Model A 2 door, various vintage gas pumps and dozens of
historical vehicle tags from Tennessee and around the globe.

Admission to
the village is free for self-guided tours and guided tours are available for a
nominal fee.&nbsp; The Chapel and grounds are
also available for weddings, picnics, and corporate or other themed
events.&nbsp; Finally, Cannonsburgh Village annually
hosts Pioneer Days&nbsp;in April and Harvest Days&nbsp;in October.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Cannonsburgh (the original name of Murfreesboro) Village is a recreated mid-18th century and early 20th century village and living museum.  The village is home to over a dozen historical buildings, most of which were purchased and relocated to Murfreesboro from various locations within Tennessee.  All the buildings display period furnishings and artifacts in an authentic manner.  The village and docents do an admirable job conveying and describing what life was like in a small turn of the century Tennessee town.

Tour of Historic Murfreesboro Tennessee

Heritage Center of Murfreesboro and Rutherford County

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information