The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Mullins Park and Whites Creek Greenway was Saturday. NewsChannel5 reports that this “filled the gap in the greenway connection from Mullins Park to Hartman Park.” I don’t think that’s technically true until the new bridge goes in and the greenway can run under it, but it will be true, and there’s no reason to not visit the greenway and walk around on one side of Clarksville Pike one time and walk around on the other side of Clarksville Pike another.
But, y’all, the cool history thing about this greenway is that it runs right where Frank James farmed, when Frank James was hiding out in rural Davidson County under the name of B.J. Woodson.
Tom Wood has a reproduction of a Nashville Banner article from the 1930s telling all about James’ time in Bordeaux. In it, we learn where James lived:
He says he came to Nashville in August, 1887 [sic]; that he stopped a few days with Ben Drake, a farmer, then stayed a short time with Mrs. Ledbetter, Drake’s sister, until he rented the Josiah Walton farm. From his farm he moved to the Jeff Hyde place, where he lived when Mr. and Mrs. Chas. H. Eastman were his neighbors. He then rented the Felix Smith farm not far from the Josiah Walton place and remained there until he left Davidson County in April 1881.[...]
It seems conclusive that Frank James lived at the Walton farm, the Jeff Hyde and the Felix Smith places in the order named, besides spending short periods at other places. The Walton farm is across White’s Creek from the County Tuberculosis Hospital, the Felix Smith place is near the Walton farm, but closer to the Tuberculosis Hospital. It is now occupied by E. B. Smith. The Hyde place, as already stated is opposite “Cedarnwold” at Bordeaux.
That tuberculosis hospital existed in the 1930s, when the article was written, but not in the 1870s, when Frank James lived here. But that hospital gives us a good starting point for where to look for James. The hospital was, roughly, where Hartmann Park is now.
Next we go to the TSLA (unofficial motto: “It’s not real Tennessee history until you’ve found some piece of it here”) and their 1871 map of Davidson County. Now, there are some factual problems with this map. The Whites Creek Masonic Lodge is on the wrong side of the street, for instance, but things are pretty much where they were. It’s also somewhat hard to navigate, because Clarksville Pike doesn’t exist yet and Buena Vista Pike and Whites Creek Pike are in their old beds near the river. But Hyde’s Ferry Pike is in the same spot.
So, if you look where the giant 23 is and then look right below it, you’ll see Ben Drake’s place. Look just about the 23 and you’ll see the Widow Ledbetter’s place. I’m pretty sure Felix Smith is actually John Felix Smith, shown on the map as J. Smith. Likewise, I think Jeff Hyde is Thomas Jefferson Hyde and his house was on the Hyde’s Ferry Pike, down near the ferry. Thomas Jefferson Hyde was married to Elizabeth Drake. So that’s a third Drake they lived with. Stay with me, it’s a theme. The Jameses also lived with Josiah Walton, whose wife was Mary Francis Drake. (I don’t see Walton on the TSLA map, but I wonder if the “Watson” above the Hyde right along Whites Creek might be them.)
While James was here, he farmed the rich floodplain of Whites Creek. If you go wander down the greenways, you’ll be wandering where he wandered. You might stop to look at the creek where he once stopped to pee. If you have a Ouija board, you can go out and try to contact Frank James, or at least, maybe, the ghost of his champion race horses. (The way you tell the difference between a person spirit and a horse spirit is that the person spirit says “no” and the horse spirit says “neigh.”)
Nashville, our history is right here, under our feet and this new greenway addition is a great spot to get some of our outlaw history under said feet.
