Glenraven
Please note that Glenraven is a private residence. Please stay in your vehicle.
Now, Wessyngton’s owner, George A. Washington, had a daughter named Jane Washington who met and married a Nashville wagon maker in 1891, and that's what brings us to where you are now. Felix Grundy Ewing and his new bride Jane Washington Ewing lived at Wessyngton while designing and building their own mansion that they would call Glenraven.
The three story, 27 room, Classical Revival Monor with 10 bathrooms was completed in 1904. At the time, no one realized it would be the last of the large scale tobacco plantations to be built. The bricks were made onsite while the foundation and the six, towering 28 foot stone columns were cut from limestone on the property. Even the cherry and walnut paneling was harvested from the dense forests of Glenraven. But make no mistake, for every item crafted from farm resources, another, was imported from exotic places– like the bamboo wallpaper that adorned the billiards room.
The mansion was far from the only structure on the property. Felix Ewing and His father in law were the largest producers of tobacco in the world, but they were not farmers. The scores of workers who maintained the farm also lived on the property. Glennraven was nearly self-sustaining with a church, a school, a post office, power plant, dairy, mill, and even a general store.
No matter how numerous the amenities of the massive enterprise were, it still was dependent on the tobacco market and that is where our tour takes us next…