Carter House State Historic Site

Address & Contact Information

1140 Columbia Avenue
Franklin, TN 37065
(615) 791-1861

Hours

Please verify hours by calling the site before visiting.

9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday - Saturday
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Sunday

About the Carter House State Historic Site

Designed and built under the supervision of Fountain Branch Carter in 1830, this Federal Period house was occupied successively by three generations of his family. It is a National Historic Landmark, one of 29 in Tennessee. The farm office and brick smokehouse are recognized by preservationists as the two most heavily damaged buildings from the Civil War to survive to the present day. Over a thousand bullet and shrapnel holes in these two buildings are a somber testament to the carnage that unfolded here over 150 years ago.    

The interpretation  at the Carter House focuses on the Civil War Battle of Franklin, fought in the late afternoon and evening of November 30, 1864 and recognized as some of the bloodiest hours of the Civil War. The Confederates suffered 6,606 casualties. Of the Union forces, 2,326 soldiers were killed. The Carter House was the command post of Major General Jacob D. Cox, the Federal field commander of Schofield's delaying action. It became the center of some of the heaviest fighting, as the Carter family and others huddled in the basement. By the morning of December 1, 1864, the home had been ravaged by bullets and parts of its roof splintered by cannon. East and south of the house some 13 charges were made by Confederate soldiers. The greatest loss of general officers in the Civil War occurred in this battle. Captain Tod Carter, C.S.A., son of the Carter family, who had been with the army and far from Franklin for much of the War, was mortally wounded on his own family property, and died in this house on December 2, 1864. The State of Tennessee saved the Carter House from imminent demolition in 1953, when it was slated to be torn down for a gas station, and entrusted the THC to oversee the site. Today the house and grounds are managed and operated for the State by the Battle of Franklin Trust. Recent property acquisitions in the immediate vicinity of the house are reclaiming and restoring additional areas of the former battlefield,  and are adding to the visitor experience.

Read more about the Carter House at the Battle of Franklin Trust site.