Grassmere research files, 1800-1997 (bulk 1964-1997)
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

Contains numerous photocopies.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Genealogical and biographical information about sisters Elise and Margaret Croft, residents of the historic house, Grassmere located off of Nolensville Road south of Nashville, Tenn., where they lived for most of the twentieth century. Their family had lived on the property since the early 1800s. The collections includes genealogical information on the Shute, Dunn, Hamilton and other allied lines, including some of the earliest settlers of Davidson County. Documents include transcripts of interviews with the sisters (1964, 1977); their deeds and wills; and compilations of genealogical data and research notes by Livy Simpson, mostly compiled in the mid-1990s. Other items include a few pieces of correspondence, newsclippings, poetry, and a small amount of material about the Weavers of Rabun and the Lookout Shop in Nashville which featured work by Margaret Croft, a weaver and one of the partners in the shop. A small amount of material about the Grassmere house itself, including its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places, is also part of the collection. The collection contains numerous photocopies.

Cite as: Grassmere Research Files collection, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17 U.S. Code). Materials which are photocopies of information from the Tennessee State Library and Archives (TSLA) may not be photocopied by researchers at the Nashville Public Library; copies should be obtained from TSLA.

Livy I. Simpson;,Gift;,ca. 1997;,Acc. RT-206.

Margaret Croft was born in 1889 at Grassmere, the daughter of Kate Shute and William Croft. Margaret's sister, Elise, was born there in 1894. Kate Shute was a descendant of the Hilliard, Dunn, and Rains families who lived at Grassmere in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1902, William and Kate Croft and their family moved to Cuba. In 1931, Elise and Margaret returned to Grassmere to live. In 1965, the property was deeded to the Children's Museum of Nashville, although the two women continued to live there until their deaths. Margaret Croft died on July 4, 1974. Elise died on Feb. 23, 1985. The Grassmere property became the Grassmere Wildlife Park in 1990, a distinct and quite different operation from the Nashville Zoo which at the time was located in Cheatham County near Joelton, Tenn. The wildlife park closed due to low attendance in 1996. As a result, the Nashville Zoo quickly made plans to relocate to the Grassmere property, a process that took several years.

In English

Compiled by Livy I. Simpson when she was a volunteer at Grassmere Wildlife Park.

Process;,2011;,Linda Barnickel;,removed from Houses Ephemera Subject Files.

No further accruals are expected.