East Nashville - Early land holders.

Many people think that Dr. John Shelby was the original owner of all of the land that comprises East Nashville, including Shelby Park. Shelby's father David, purchased a 640 acre tract from James Shaw[1], who had received a preemptor land grant from North Carolina. Early pioneers were granted land, called preemptor grants, for settling the land and for protection of the settlement. Shelby's tract was bound on the west and south by the Cumberland River, and roughly on the north by Main Street and on the east by 8th/9th Streets. Most of the old City of Edgefield was on Shelby's land. He gave this land as a gift to his son's, John and Anthony Shelby. The northern portion of Edgefield, across Main Street, known today as Northeast Nashville, had been the land of David McGavock[4]. The area was bound by the river along Dickerson Road to Douglas Ave., then east to just across Ellington Parkway and then back south to Main Street.

As the community grew eastward, toward today's Lockeland neighborhood and Shelby Park, the original land grants of Daniel Williams[11], Turner Williams[12] and William Overall[13] became a part of East Nashville. Lockeland School is on the site of a log fortification known as William's Station. Daniel Williams, Sr., who was granted 640 acres by North Carolina, was appointed as the first sheriff of Davidson County in 1783. Shelby Park proper, is laid out over a portion of the land of Daniel[11] and Turner Williams[12] and William Overall[13]. Shelby Bottoms is on land originally surveyed for John Rice[26], William Murray[21] and Green Hill[23]. Though Shelby Park's land was never owned by Dr. John Shelby it was named for him, as was Shelby Avenue. He had been one of the area's most well known and respected residents.

Robert Weakley purchased Daniel William's property and David Vaughn bought the land of Turner Williams early in the 19th century. Descendants of both men lived in the area, for the next 100 years. Eastland Avenue was once the lane to the Vaughn property and was known as Vaughn Pike. The Lockeland neighborhood took it's name from the home that was built by Robert Weakley in 1810. Weakley named his home in honor of his wife, Jane Locke Weakley, and her family.

North Carolina Grants in McLean's Bend [East Nashville] Drawn by Samuel A. Weakley
TSLA Accession Number 1330

Northeast Nashville is west of Gallatin Pk. and north of Spring St.  The area includes the McFerrin Park, Cleveland Park and Highland Heights communities and the area north to Trinity Lane.   David McGavock[4 and7] was an early land owner, along with Martin Armstrong[5], Haydon Wells[6], Issac Lindsey[5A], and Zachariah Stull[8]. You can read more about McGavock's property by clicking here.  Armstrong was a surveyor and owned land across Middle Tennessee.  Haydon Wells and Isaac Lindsey settled for awhile at Heaton's Station, located at the today's Lock One Park.  Zachariah Stull built a log cabin on the west side of Gallatin Pk, a good distance from the road, near Carolyn Avenue.  His property ran out to near Trinity Ln.

Torward the east side of Gallatin Pk and north of Shelby Park lay the grants of James Sanders Sr.[15] William Carvin[16], John Evans[17], and Sampson Williams[17A].  This land comprises most of the Inglewood and South Inglewood communities.  Carvin was an early casualty.  He was working in a field on his land, in August of 1780 when he was attacked by Native Americans. His wife, at their nearby camp, heard the gun shots and hid in tall cane with her three small children. After dark she made her way toward the Bluff Station at Nashville.  Read more about the history of Inglewood here.  To the south and north of Briley Pkwy on both the east and west sides of Gallatin Pk was the land granted to the heirs of Alexander Buchanan[18].  Buchanan was killed at the Battle of the Bluff at Nashville in 1781.  His grant was claimed by his brother Major John Buchanan and later was the property of the first preacher, to settle in Davidson County, Thomas Craighead.  Much of the property today is covered by Spring Hill Cemetery.  William Cocke[18A] was the grant holder of the land east of Spring Hill Cemetery that runs along the Cumberland River.  This soon became the property of Robert Hays, brother in law to Andrew Jackson.  It was on this land that the town of Haysboro was built.  James Scott[18B] was the owner of the northern most grant on the map.

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East Nashville - Early land holders by Debie Oeser Cox is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.