THE HISTORIC MUD TAVERN COMMUNITY
Around the Elm Hill and McGavock Piks Crossroads
Davidson County, TN
Mud Tavern is an historic community in Davidson County, Tennessee, established in
the late 1700s when the first settlers received North Carolina land grants in Tennessee.
The community developed around the crossroads where the Elm Hill and McGavock Pikes
intersect. To the west, along Mill Creek, was Buchanan’s Station where in 1792 settlers
defeated a raiding party of Creeks and Cherokees. Early in the 19th century, a Mud
Tavern Inn was built near the crossroads. It is recorded that Andrew Jackson often
stayed overnight at the inn, and is reported to have spent two days there in May
1806 preparing for his duel with Charles Dickinson. Over the next one hundred years,
the Mud Tavern community became home to many families who played a significant role
in the history of the Donelson area in Davidson County.
By the beginning of the 20th century, Mud Tavern had acquired the assets of a thriving
rural community, among which were the Hite Post Office, a Tennessee & Pacific railway
station, a grocery store – owned for many years by Wallace A. Gleaves – and the
Mud Tavern School, which later became the Elm Hill Community Club. In 1915 Peabody
College purchased one hundred fifty acres along Elm Hill Pike and established the
Seaman A. Knapp School of Rural Life.
Farming and rural life began to give way to urban development when in 1954 the runways
of the Nashville Airport were extended toward Elm Hill Pike in order to provide
for jet air traffic. Today the crossroads at Elm Hill and McGavock has been dubbed
“Century City” by the commercial interests that have developed it as a corporate
park.
The Mud Tavern Community Group has been formed to preserve the memory of and compile
a record of this historic and influential community. You are invited to participate
with us in this effort.
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