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In the heart of Readyville on the west bank of the East Fork of Stones River, a two-story, antebellum, red-brick mansion oozes history. A private home for most of it life, it now opens its doors so that overnight guests can sleep here and dream of yesteryear.
No other bed & breakfast in Tennessee can lay claim to being in an older house than the 189-year-old structure named The Corners on Stones River, built in 1829 by entrepreneur-lawyer Charles Ready.
Owner-operators Jay and Amanda Landrum, who purchased the splendiferous home last year, eat, sleep and breathe in two worlds a century apart.
"We love it here, and we want to share its history with others," said Jay about the event venue and B&B. "The house was here before there was a Cannon County. And when a part of Rutherford County was taken to form Cannon, they ran the boundary line down the hallway." That boundary line is now on Readyville Road, about 40 feet west of the structure.
The couple drove past the home, which was designed in the Federal architectural style and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, for 20 years or so while on the route to visit Amanda's parents, who live in Readyville, and Jay's mother and father, who live in Woodbury. [
"This property runs down to the river, and we thought it was beautiful," Jay recollected.
"We were looking to build and bought this place after the house came on the market. We jumped on it. We always liked to host and entertain. It was already a wedding venue, and we thought it would make a B&B as well," he explained.
"I was amazed and left breathless by all of it," Amanda said of her first time to peek inside. "There was a wow factory of how well everything had held up. It was just gorgeous."
They had already downsized and were living in a 900-square foot apartment while waiting to build, so moving into a 6,000-square foot mansion was a big change, Amanda added.
Jay said, "What we got is simply amazing. We had dreams to open a restaurant. We came across this and thought we could turn it into a living as well. It is easier to have a B&B than restaurant."
Amanda, a native of Bells, Texas, is a social worker in the Rutherford County School system. Jay, who works in human resources, grew up in Murfreesboro and Nashville and met Amanda while at grad school at Middle Tennessee State University. They have three sons: Christian, a student at MTSU; Hunter, who serves in the U.S. Marines; and Lockland, 2.
The couple bought the house in October and welcomed their first guests in early March. They will host their first wedding here in May with six more already booked.
"It's 200 years old. There is so much history in this house, and these great historical figures have been here. During the Civil War people died here. We feel honored to be here," Amanda said.
"Three presidents have been here, and [Grand Ole Opry star] Uncle Dave Macon lived here and used to sing, 'I rise in Rutherford County and have breakfast in Cannon,'" noted Jay.
Macon's mother bought The Corners from the Ready-Talley family in 1886 and operated it as a stagecoach inn into the 1900s. Macon was said to have practiced on his banjo as a youth in a barn that once stood near the house. That structure later became a "See Rock City" barn.
Amanda added, "You see a big burn mark on the floor and wonder 'Did Andrew Jackson do that?' This house is very peaceful. It has great energy. It feels very positive in here."
They report that while there are bloodstains in the floorboards dating to the Civil War, there are no ghosts lurking about.
The list of illustrious guests who have slept here are dropped by for a bite to eat are something to crow about. Family tradition has it that Presidents Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk and Martin Van Buren have visited as well as artist William Cooper and orator William Haskell.
During the War Between the States, Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men were served a fine ham supper here on July 13, 1862, by Ready's daughter, Jane Talley. Legend has it that Confederate Col. John Hunt Morgan and his bride, Ready's granddaughter, Martha, spent their honeymoon in the house on Dec. 14, 1862. Less than three weeks later, after the Battle of Stones River, Union Col. William B. Hazen's Brigade marched to Readyville and made The Corners its headquarters.
"The South was first here and used it for headquarters and a military hospital. Then the North took over, so it was held by both," said Jay. "We've been asked if it's haunted. No. It's very peaceful. I think the house knows how much we love it, and it loves us back."
Readyville's namesake, Charles Ready, who was born in Maryland and came to Tennessee via a wagon train from South Carolina, bought this property in 1802 from Gen. Griffith Rutherford, a Revolutionary War hero for whom Rutherford County took its name. Ready was appointed in 1811 by the Tennessee Legislature as one of seven men at the first Rutherford County Commission meeting with their task to select a permanent county seat. The vote went four to three in favor of Murfreesboro over Readyville. The vote came after Ready served the commissioners a sumptuous dinner as he hoped to sway them his way.
Before building his brick home, Ready lived in a log cabin near a spring and constructed a dam on the river and raised a mill in about 1812. At the time, the settlement was on the original Stage Coach Road that connected Knoxville to Nashville. Also known as The Immigrant Trail, it would become one of the routes taken by the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, and during the 20th century, the road was paved and became Highway 70.
James Holmes, who married Ready's daughter, Mary, wrote a letter in 1829 stating that
"Mr. Ready planned to build an elegant house, the bricks for which are now ready." Those bricks were made by slaves in a kiln that was the field across the road.
Goodspeed's History of Tennessee noted that The Corners was one of the first brick houses in the county. The large three-story, red-brick house featured walls 18-inches thick and a portico with white columns in front.
An 11-foot wide wainscoted hall separated the tall-ceilinged parlors from the dining room and family room, while a winding stairway led to the children's bedrooms on the second floor.
In the large one-room attic on the third floor, Ready took a stab at cultivating silk worms with the plan to develop the silk industry but the project failed.
Current owner Jay added that the silkworms created a flammable situation on the top floor, which eventually caught on fire and burned, thus the house, which has had two other fires, no longer has a third floor.
Ready named his mansion The Corners because it stood in the corner where two roads crossed. According to the book, Hearthstones: The Story of Rutherford County Homes, he remained in the same house, the same office, and carried the same green satchel for 53 years and also served several terms as mayor of Murfreesboro.
The house, which was featured on HGTV's House Hunters in March, is open once more for overnight guests. They will find 12-foot ceilings, more than 20 doors, six fireplaces, two stairways and four huge bedrooms, three of those named The Jackson, The Polk and The Van Buren in honor of the presidents who may have slept here.
The Landrums negotiated to purchase all of the antiques in the house from its former owners, including the 10-foot tall mirror that Ready had custom built for the front parlor, which served as his office.
Prices for an overnight stay begin at $190, and, of course, feature a fabulous breakfast with a menu that ranges from sweet breads, fruits and dip, breakfast casserole, bacon, waffles and other goodies.
The Corners at Stones River also provides settings for weddings at multiple outdoor sites including a reception area in a overlooking the river. There also are options for small ceremonies and events in the mansion. Tables and chairs can be set up for 150 guests, and additional tables are available for food, beverages, gifts, cake and decorations. Venue rental starts at $2,500.
Ask Texan-turned Tennessean Amanda what she thinks is the best thing about living with one foot in the 19th century and the other in the 21st, and she responds, "Everything. It's the house itself and the people. I love that we have the river here. Every day is like a vacation. I grew up in the country, and I love that my son is growing up in the country. It feels like a piece of paradise."
The Corners on Stones River
New owner-operators Jay and Amanda Landrum of The Corners on Stones River, built by Charles Ready in 1829, will host an open house 1-4 p.m. Saturday, April 21. Already an event venue, the antebellum brick house is now a bed and breakfast. Prices for an overnight stay begin at $190. Venue rental for weddings and other occasions start at $2,500 and can support 150 guests. The Corners sits at 1990 Readyville Road in Readyville. For more information go online to thecornersonstonesriver.com or call (615) 804-4865.
