Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1895 — CAN IT BE SAVED? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CAN IT BE SAVED?

THE FAMOUS POLK PLACE AT NASHVILLE AND ITS CONTENTS. Provisions of Jamas K. Polk's Will to too Carried Out to the Letter-*A Reproduction of the White House on a Smaller Scale. [Special Nashville (Tenn.) Letter.] The old homestead of James K. Polk, the eleventh President of the United States, is at this time, as it has been for some time past, an object of particular interest, owing to the fact that in the will of this distinguished statesman the necessary division of the estate among the thirty-two heirs requires demolition. This property fcas purchased before President Polk took possession of the White House, and the mansion which now occupies the spacious grounds was begun during the time of the Polks at Washington and was sufficiently complete for residence before the President’s retirement from office. This time embraced the years 1847 and 1848. Ths mansion presents two facades, with great Corinthian columns supporting verandas, and has approaches from each of the four streets forming the square it crosses, in the very heart of the city of Nashville, Tenn. The main front is to the south and is reached through the principal business thoroughfare of the city, from which the carriage drive sweeps through the immense iron gates.

The Vine street approach, however, has always been the preferred approach of the family and pedestrian visitors. A graveled walk, bordered with heavy twining shrubbery, lends an attractiveness to the entrance that is the secret of its popularity. To the family it was the most convenient approach to the living portion of the house from the center of the city, though in later years this feature has been much modified by the spread of the city. This walk also connected with the one leading from the house to the tomb, which has been the Mecca of the great majority of those visiting the place. It is douttful if there is a more imposing family mansion in the whole south than Polk place, even in the latter’s decline. The exterior design and the interior arrangements were all planned.to make the change from the white house less noticeable to Mrs. Polk, and the great white house of the nation’s capital is the model after which the Polk mansion was built. The long L-shaped hall, embracing in its angle the reception room, and running into the ample west parlors, with twenty-foot ceilings, gives to the whole a palatial effect peculiar to the white house. The dining-rooms, guest chambers, upper hall and even the servants’ quarters are arranged on the same generous scale.

In the southeast corner of the house, on the upper floor, is the room used by the president'as his office during the short time allotted him to live in the new home after he surrendered the presidential chair March 4, 1849. Three months after this date he was seized with a sudden illness and only lived a few days. He died at the age of fifty-four. The widow continued to live in the great house until herdeath in August, 1891, forty-two years the survivor of her distinguished husband, than whom she was not less brilliant or talented. The great pleasure of her life through these man j’ years of widowhood was to care for this favorite room of her

husband, in which lie spent so much time in reading, study and writing, along the line of his earnest literary pursuits. The room was held sacred from curious intrusion for nearly half a century, and in it to-day are the desk and furnishings as they were during the ocejipancy and use of the eminent owner. The upper south hall leading to this room is shelved from floor to ceiling to accommodate the' exten give collection of books which compose a library complete alike for statesman nnd litterateur. Every nook of the great house, in the rooms and halls, abounds in choice statuary and other articles of virtu. Rare pictures and hangings adorn the walls. Bibelots, insignia of office and rank, relics of public life and of public men, historical memorials, the gifts of patriots and f reigners, are arranged in their abundance with a harmonious taste that lends to the interior of the old mansion an air of elegance and imparts to it a charm irresistible and a value not measurable in silver or gold. All those must be sold? "according to the will of the deceased president, with the real estate, and the only way they can be kept in the

family is by purchase by the heirs. The family tomb, which contained the remains of husband and wife until they were removed to the state capitol grounds, stands on the east side of the grounds to the right of the walk alluded to above as the favorite entrance of the family and the convenient approach for visitors. The tomb was constructed beneath an open temple formed by four columns with entablatures. An inscrip-

tion of the names and dates of birth and death of the ex-president is upon one of the columns, while an epitaph of some length, taken from the official announcement of the death, made to the court of England by George Bancroft, then American minister, appears on the monolith which rests between the columns. For forty-two years the remains of the ex-president lay in sacred seclusion, and when Mrs. Polk died her remains, in compliance with her last request, were wrapped in a plain white silk winding sheet and quietly placed beside those of her husband. Two years later the remains of both were borne thence, and with much impressiveness and military pomp, reinterred ih the capitol grounds a few hundred yards away. And now within a short time the heirs will give the estate, real and personal, over to private and public auction, and Polk place, which, for so many years has stood as a public attraction in Nashville, will become only a beautiful memory. One writer says: “As it stands, stately and solemn and deserted, it is an august monument to two illustrious lives, and the people of Nashville, ‘the Athens of the South,’ will see with sad hearts the rending asunder of this masonry, the associations of which have so long been an inspiration to many lofty sentiments and deeds to those who have daily been accustomed to contemplate its hallowed site.” Yet with all the beautiful sentiment, touchingly expressed, there has been un utter failure of all efforts to save this historic spot to the city and the country. How long the grounds and mansion may remain intact is now simply a legal and financial indulgence, and all the treasures so generously collected by President Polk, and so jealously cared for bj' his widow, are only merchandise to be disposed of on the most liberal terms that can be secured. George S. McDowell.

PRESIDENT JAMES K. POLK.

POLK PLACE, NASHVILLE, TENN.

MRS. SARAH C. POLK.