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Radnor Lake State Natural AreaSettlement and Industrial Activities

Prior to the Designation of Radnor Lake State Natural Area

1 inch equals 700 feet Poster created by James Russ 10/30/2010

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Adams/Owens FarmsteadSite ID - 40DV631

Much of the site has been destroyed by residential construction, but a stone/earthen dam and a stonelined well remain. Ceramic and glass scatter at thefarmstead appear to date the site to the late 1800s.

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Radnor Lake

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This gothic style barn, constructed in the mid 1940s,incorporates architectural features unique to middle Tennessee. Although additions were madeto the structure in the 1960s and 1970s, the structurecontinues to maintain its original architecturalintegrity. The barn is currently in use as a storagefacility by RLSNA.

Hall Barn & Rock DamSite ID - 40DV634

Rock Wall FenceSite ID - 40DV632

This is the only known rock wall fence within RLSNA. From the presence of broken bottles and ceramics dating back to the mid 1800s, it appears that the rock wall could have been constructed as early as the1860s.The site has been damaged by construction work and removal of stones from layers of the rock wall.

Hardeman FarmsteadSite ID - 40DV633

The farmstead dates back to possibly the late1800s. Remnants of the farmstead include a chimney falland cistern. Glass artifacts, ceramics andpharmaceutical bottles from the late 1800sand early 1900s have been found on the site.

Mayche FarmsteadSite ID - 40DV630

The Mayche farmstead home was destroyed;a park ranger residence now stands in its place.Remnants of the Mayche farmstead include arock lined spring and well. Glass and ceramicartifacts dating to the1800s have been found onthe site. There is a possibility that the site includes humanremains from a rumored mother and child burial.

Alford Farmstead & CemeterySite ID - 40DV173

The Alford family farmstead appears on DavidsonCounty tax rolls dating back to 1829; it remainedin their possession until 1910. Since the constructionof the dam, the site has normally been underwater. But in 1982, while the water level was lowered to conduct repairs on the dam, the Alford farmsteadwas identified and analyzed by archaeologists.The abandoned Alford cemetery, consisting ofapproximately 10 graves, is located on a nearby hillside.

Pratt/Bush Farmstead & CemeterySite ID - 40DV172

Samuel Pratt received a 9 acre land grant in 1835. His descendants, the Pratt/Bush family, increasedtheir land holdings to 50 acres before the propertywas incorporated into RLSNA. The Bush home wasrazed in the 1970s.The Pratt/ Bush cemetery is located adjacent to the RLSNA east parking lot.

Powder HouseSite ID - 40DV177

The Powder House (40DV177) was possibly usedduring the Civil War, and later, by local government as a storage area for explosives. The site is also thought to have been used as a brick factory. It is likely that crews working for the L&N Railroad usedthe site to store materials during the construction ofRadnor Lake dam.Little remains of the site; most of the materials used in its construction were removedfor use elsewhere.

The house site (40DV175) is believed to have beenconstructed in the 1900s. The home was reported tohave been in disrepair in the 1940s, and now, only the stone foundation and a chimney fall remain where thehouse once stood.

House SiteSite ID - 40DV175

Margaret Leonard HouseSite ID - 40DV174

This early 20th century house, with associated smokehouseand barn, was razed in the 1970s.

L&N Railroad Industrial ComplexSite ID - 40DV635

The dam, spillway dam, valve, and pump house wereall put in place in the early 1900s to support the L&NRailroad’s operations at nearby Radnor Yards. The caretaker’s residence was constructed in the 1940sto replace an earlier structure that burned; it’s the only remaining home structure dating to the railroad’s ownership of the property. The lake, and much of the land surrounding the lake, was designated a statenatural area in 1973.

In 1913, the L&N Railroad Company purchased a thousand acres in the hills south of Nashville for the purpose of constructing an earthen reservoir large enough to supply water for its steam enginesand livestock at nearby Radnor Yards.A decade later, efforts to preserve Radnor Lake and its eco-system began when, at the request of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, an L&N executive stopped all hunting and fishing and declared the site a "Wildlife Sanctuary." By 1973, concerns over the possibility that the land surroundingthe lake would be turned into a residential subdivision led to the creation of Radnor Lake State Natural Area – Tennessee’s first officially designated state natural area.

Radnor Lake State Natural Area

(The Friends of Radnor Lake - website)