Belle Meade Plantation Trip

Because Saturday included free admission to the grounds of Belle Meade Plantation, we decided to go have a look. It turned out to be a beautiful day, about 80 degrees and very low humidity (for us, anyway).

Belle Meade, like any group of buildings of its age, has quite a story attached. In this case, the story is mostly centered around horse breeding in the pursuit of horse racing reknown. It worked, given that at least four Kentucky Derby winners can trace their blood lines directly back to the stock from Belle Meade.

I also find it interesting that good things come from bad -- the property is preserved primarily because the owning family was forced to sell the farm to the state of Tennessee in the early twentieth century due to financial hardship. The state has preserved the center of the farm and developed the remainder of the land into a very successful (and wealthy) suburb of Nashville.

Pics on Flickr.