N

Located at the end of a long tree-lined drive, The Historic Sam Davis Home and Plantation in Smyrna, Tennessee serves as a lasting memorial to not only local Civil War soldier Sam Davis, but all those that lived and worked there in the years leading up to The Civil War.

On the banks of Stewart’s Creek, the home was purchased by Charles Davis in 1847 for his growing family. Originally built in 1810 as a log cabin, Davis remodeled the home into the Greek-Revival house enjoyed by visitors today.

“The place has been open since 1930, almost 100 years, so our collection is pretty phenomenal,” Curator John Lamb said of the home and 168-acre property.

Lamb said that a lot has changed over the years in regards to the narrative told to visitors at the site.

“In the 1930s, the philosophy was that this was opened as a shrine to Sam Davis, and unlike Robert E. Lee and Nathan Forrest and the big guys, Sam was sort of that local Confederate hero,” he said. “Things have changed so much over the years that there is a broader focus on most museum sites, of not only these wealthy white people, but the enslaved people and how they all sort of functioned amongst each other to build this.”

The property became famous as the home of Confederate soldier Sam Davis, a member of the Coleman Scouts tasked with supplying information about the activities of Federal forces in Tennessee. Operating in Tennessee and Alabama through the end of the war, the Scouts would pick up information at post offices on horseback before riding to the headquarters of the Scout’s commanding officer, Henry B. Shaw. Shaw would then rewrite messages in code using the alias E. Coleman, and another Scout would take the information further south to the headquarters of General Braxton Bragg.

After returning home briefly Nov. 13, 1863, Davis was captured by Union forces near Minor Hill, Tennessee and sentenced to hang by Union forces after refusing to divulge the names of his informants.

His body was returned home, and in 1866 a monument of Italian marble was erected by his father just yards away from the family home.

“The place is actually oddly very authentic in the fact that the Davises changed a few things after the Civil War, but there was not a lot of massive alternation done,” Lamb said. “So in 1930 when the place opened many of the original buildings were still here and the Davis things, so we have a remarkably authentic place.”

Visitors to the Sam Davis Home located at 1399 Sam Davis Road, Smyrna, will begin their day at the home’s museum and gift shop where tickets can be purchased. The traditional tour includes a guided tour of the Davis Home, as well as admission to the site’s museum, which includes hundreds of historic artifacts ranging from Civil War uniforms and weapons to personal items including Sam Davises pocket watch and a military button.

Lamb said members of the Davis family are still involved with the home, and items that were once a part of the home find their way back from time to time.

One such item is a porcelain doll that once belonged to Andromeda Davis, the younger sister of Sam Davis.

“The doll that is in the sitting room downstairs sitting on the coach that came back from Andromeda’s family in Texas last spring,” Lamb said.

Another favorite artifact for lamb is the Davis family carriage, which was owned by Oscar Davis, the younger brother of Sam Davis.

“Because of all the businesses they had in Smyrna and the fact that we know they had a buggy shop here in town, I have a feeling that the carriage came from their own store,” Lamb said.

The carriage dates to the turn of the 20th century, and is known as a “rockaway” style carriage and features retractable glass windows and a specially designed front-wheel assembly.

“It is an interesting vehicle,” Lamb said. “Because of the glass windows and the roller shades on the inside we can tell it was a fairly fine vehicle for the 1890s and Oscar Junior’s sons were very successful after the war in a very different way.”

In addition to the regular daily tours, The Sam Davis Home also offers special programming, such as its “History After Dark Behind the Ropes” tour which Lamb conducts.

“We focus a little more on grittier pieces of history,” he said. “In October we do a lot of stuff around Sam’s death and execution and the more gory details of that.”

While the Sam Davis home is a historic site, it maintains a focus on agriculture and continues to operate as a working farm.

“The fields are cultivated and I would guess that of the 168- acres about 100-acres are farm land,” Lamb said. “We also have our bee hives here and they supply honey that we sell in the shop.”

Lamb said the Sam Davis Home offers up a unique interpretation of 19th century life in the American south.

“I think for most of the historic sites, especially in the south, they are representative of the wealthy aristocracy before the Civil War,” he said. “The Davis story is very different, it is very unique in the fact that Davis was not born into that although he did become a fairly wealthy man before the war, the authenticity of the place I think is very unique. There is no plumbing in the house or heating and air conditioning in the house.”

“I think it is a very different experience compared to the more massive, ornate southern mansions that surround us,” Lamb added.

For more information about The Sam Davis Home, visit www.samdavishome.org or call 615-459-2341.