Grantlands Today
Today there seems to be little evidence remaining of the once grand Grantlands plantation. Two streets bare mention to the plantation, Murfree Avenue and Grantlands Avenue, while two historical markers pay homage to the famous author, Mary Noailles Murfree and also mention "Grantlands." One of these markers is located at the corner of Broad Street and Medical Center Parkway, while the other is located on Murfree Avenue. The original house was dismantled by the Union Army sometime between 1862-1863, while the second house was razed to make way for a subdivision around 1950.
Starting with urban renewal projects in the 1950s, the beautiful lands that once belonged to the Murfrees were swallowed by the urban sprawl of the city. The “country lane” that led from North Maple Street to New Grantlands became a paved thoroughfare named Lokey Lane. In recent years, that road was widened and renamed Medical Center Parkway. Broad Street (US Highway 41) was created in the late 1950s to relieve traffic congestion on Old Nashville Highway between Murfreesboro and Nashville. Broad Street bisected the old plantation and nearly covers the site of the original house. With the creation of Broad Street came commercial developments including new shopping centers, restaurants, and other businesses. The K-Mart Shopping Center at the corner of West Clark Boulevard and Broad Street paved over the old front yard of the original house.
The largest remaining evidence of the original plantation was removed in 1957. Up until that year, the Dickinson/Murfree family cemetery was still located at the intersection of West Clark Street and Broad Street, in what today is the parking lot for Hooters Restaurant. In 1957, several of the Murfree descendants petitioned the Chancery Court of Rutherford County to have the graves exhumed and moved to the Evergreen City Cemetery. This task was accomplished without protest, and today most of the Murfree ancestors can be found buried in a family plot in Evergreen.
During the Spring of 2011, the Explorations in Public History class at Middle Tennessee State University decided to “re-map” Grantlands plantation. They used historical research and analysis, along with modern technology to retrace the original plantation onto a contemporary map of Murfreesboro. This was a tedious project that involved numerous hours of research in the historical records found at the Rutherford County Archives and other local repositories. By working with the Rutherford County GIS Department, the students were able to “overlay” historical maps of the plantation from the 1800s with contemporary (2010) maps and imagery of Murfreesboro. What they discovered is presented in the photographs to the left. While the original plantation is long gone, Grantlands can still be “seen” in the layout of our city streets, and thru the historical documents that the Murfree family left behind!
