Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Around Town / Phillips In Search of Granny 'Rat's Tavern
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 8:33 AM
His mistress marries a man who was called Durard or Durrand or Durratt or Duraque. And Dur... um... Dur-mumble signed his name with an X, so who knows how he thought of himself. You'd think the difference between Durard and Durratt would be substantial enough that sources would agree on what the guy was actually called.
Not, of course, if they mumbled.
I have been on a quest to find where Elizabeth Dur-mumble née Bennett or Hensley or Hemsley or something had her tavern--a tavern, they say, of ill-repute (so, of course, how can I resist?).
So today I went to the Tennessee State Library and Archives to see what I could dig up on Elizabeth Bennett Dur-mumble. Once the will of Timothy Demonbreun came out and people could no longer write histories of Nashville in which all of his children were by his wife, a very few facts about Bennett became known.
She was said to be at least half Native American and she made bullets during the attack on Buchanan's Station. Only in more recent times have people talked about how she seems to have shared affections with both Demonbreun and Dur-mumble at the same time (having Demonbreun children while married to Dur-mumble). I found one account in a newspaper of earlier newspaper accounts "of a later day [which] tell of her long life, in her later years operating a stagecoach inn on Paradise Hill called 'Granny 'Rat's Tavern.'" And that was about it.
But that one sentence tells us a lot. First, it tells us that Elizabeth probably understood her last name as Durratt, hence the Granny 'Rat. (Though she was buried under the name Elizabeth Durard and presumably her son would know how her last name sounded, so who knows? These were pre-Hooked on Phonics times.) Second, it tells us almost exactly where the tavern sat.
Paradise Hill was where Joelton is now. In the old days, the route to Clarksville ran right through there (you can still follow that route, if you're looking for a nice drive; just take Buena Vista Pike to White's Creek Pike to Old Clarksville Pike, which is a far different drive than Clarksville Pike is now) and the road to Springfield veered off to the right. A place to eat and sleep and get fresh horses before traveling on would have been situated right at that intersection, right at the top of the ridge.
I tried to confirm my hunch that this is where Granny 'Rat's Tavern was, but even with the three helpful people at the TSLA, we couldn't make it happen.
But what Dean Anderson says over at Joelton.com sticks with me: "Just underneath the front lawn of Anderson & Garrett Funeral Home lies the foundation of an old building. In dry weather the grass just over the foundation turns brown, making the outline of the long-departed building visible from the front of the funeral home. According to legend, the building atop the foundation was a tavern, which served as a stagecoach stop."
I took a drive up the ridge this afternoon and stood in the front lawn of the Anderson & Garrett Funeral Home, but I couldn't make out the outline of any old building. And I listened for any ghostly mumbly confirmation, but there was none.
I have no proof that's her tavern under the front lawn, but I feel pretty sure it is.
Comments (14)
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Lance is right about Paradise Ridge (see "Northwest Davidson County" by John Graves, a detailed history of the area) but this is still an interesting historical mystery. I'm also wondering if the name "Granny 'Rat's tavern" was intended as a humourous comparison to the earlier and better known "Granny White tavern" south of Nashville.
Nope, Lance is wrong. Paradise Ridge is specifically where Beaman park is, named after the Paradise brothers who owned it at one point. Paradise Ridge often lends its name to the whole hilly area.
BUT Paradise Hill is a specific location--where Joelton is now. Check out this map from 1871 for confirmation.
Paradise Ridge is a hill and Paradise Hill was a ridge, but they are indeed two real and distinct places (or, they were, back when Paradise Hill was a place and back before Paradise Ridge became a name to mean the whole area).
Legend has it that early in the 21st century, there was a casual eatery known as "McDonald's" at Paradise Ridge (some would argue Paradise Hill). It tempted both locals and weary travelers with a menu of burgers, "chicken fingers" and so-called "Happy Meals" for children. No traces of the building remain, so the exact location is lost to history, though some claim to see a vague trail they say was once the "drive-thru" (the well-used path where customers would acquire their food without having to exit their vehicles). This "McDonald's" was but one in a vast chain of nearly-identical "fast-food" (inexpensive, high-calorie, unhealthy food) restaurants wildly popular at the time, which mysteriously featured a garish clown mascot. It was totally unremarkable.
Legend further says that even today, a tinny, bored-sounding adolescent voice can sometimes be heard echoing in the hills with the plaintive question, "Do you want fries with that?" or "Would you like to Supersize?"
What in the hell is happening with the Scene and this blog? First, we were "enlightened" (and I use that term loosely) by the 35-year-old revelation that Lower Broad used to have some porn stores. Now, we're being force-fed "The Legend of Granny Rat" (which is about 50% less interesting than Aunt Riddler's previous treatise on "Mumbles" or "Marbles" or whatever it was). Answer me this: Since when did the word "NEW" get surgically removed from "NEWspaper?" Or have all the rules governing journalism gone completely out the window with the advent of the World Wide Web machine?
Love that 1871 map you linked, B. Folks with true Old-Nashville ancestry (as opposed to those whose forebears escaped places like Hollow Rock and Granville Tenn. get here in the '20s, as mine did) will find that map worth a close look since it names and locates many of the farm owners of then-rural Davidson Co.
Didn't mean to bore you, Harrison, and sorry to learn of your allergy to history. I hate that for you. Hope it gets better, by and by.
Personally, I'm not allergic to history. But I think people expect, or at least they used to expect, to get news from the Scene. Apparently, that concept has gone the way of the dinosaur (along with Granny Rat and Lower Broad porn).
Here's an idea: Why don't we just turn the glossy new Scene into a quarterly historical journal? You could use little pencil sketches instead of them new-fangled Fo-Tos. You could break out ye 'ol printing press and dust off your vowel tray.
Or maybe -- just maybe -- you could give people some goddamn news. For once.
Good idea Harrison. Obviously the Scene doesn't publish anything other than stories about local history now so they shouldn't be allowed to use any of the new fangled inventions.
Either you like stirring up shit or you have the patience of a gnat.
Well ... yeah. I stir shit. And I'm impatient. What of it? Still doesn't change the fact that the Scene used to be a respectable news source and now it's just a glorified scrapbook. Next thing you know, they'll be bringing us breaking news of Andrew Jackson's demise, the construction of a replica Parthenon for the Cenntennial Exposition and the emergence of an exciting new rock and roll artist named Elvis Presley.
BP: Pardon me for not replying sooner but I had to go home and look this up.
We can all be correct. The place referred to by 19th century inhabitants as Paradise Hill, which includes the area where Joelton is now, is simply the southern (or southeastern) end of Paradise Ridge, a spur of the Cumberland Mountains exctending south from Robertson County, As described in Clayton's "History of Davidson County," Paradise Ridge runs several miles and then "culminates" in Paradise Hill. You can also see this on a topographical map. There is no separate "hill," just the southern end and steep slopes of the ridge.
There is a road still called Paradise Hill Road (it goes to Clarksville) and there was once, very briefly, a Paradise Hill post office, but people describing the area today (as best i can determine) no longer refer to the hill, just the ridge. Both, of course, derive their name from the Paradise brothers who settled there in the early 1800s. By the way, that sharp curve in the road you've noticed just as White's Creek Pike begins to climb the hill (or ridge) is called "Devil's Elbow."
As for the building which once occupied the spot where the funeral home sits, this excerpt,also from Clayton, describes that intersection during the first half of the 19th century:
"We next come to Paradise Hill, on the top of which Esquire Thomas Shannon erected a large brick house. Here the road forks, one going to Clarksville and the other to Springfield." So it appears that Granny Rat's tavern was somewhere else. I did notice, however, that the 1871 map you link to shows a residence of "J Durand" a few miles to the east on a prong of White's Creek. ( see also Graves, at 61.)
Harrison: I agree that this site was a lot more fun before the SouthComm purchase.But I still enjoy the occasional history lesson.
Jesus, people! I've been dead and buried a long time and I never give that ratty old shack a second thought. Why you modern whippersnappers give a rat's ass, I don't know. It may be history, but there ain't no lesson.
Henry, I don't know if that tells us anything actually. Was the house functioning as a tavern? Was the house what is now the funeral home? If so, then that doesn't rule out a tavern in front of it. I don't think the lack of mention of a tavern proves the lack of a tavern. And the tavern might not have been called Granny 'Rat's Tavern officially.
All my high school friends referred to our church as Betsy's Dad's church and he didn't own it and it wasn't named that.
I am curious about this J. Durard. Good eye on your part. Do you think that's Ingram Road off Lickton? I'm almost sure it is. I'm going to try to go over there and take a look.
It doesn't seem like that can be Elizabeth's husband, but I keep hearing rumors of Durand/Durratt/Durard kids (three of them) and this would seem like it might be one, wouldn't it?
I agree with you that the top of the hill where the road forks certainly does seem like a logical location for a rest stop/ tavern. On the other hand, one would assume that, had there been a tavern there, this description of those who lived along this road (and along all the other roads leading out of Nashville) during the early 19th century would have mentioned it.
http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nashvillearchives/willoughbyI.html
Good luck.
Based on comparing the 1871 map to a modern street map, the Durant house was located on Ingram Road which runs off of Lickton Pike just north of I-24.
You will enjoy this. Ingram Road is a dead end and goes along a creek bed up a valley. I have a 1957 map which calls this valley "Durant Hollow."
