Rattle and Snap

Rattle and Snap, also known as the Polk-Granberry House and formerly as Oakwood Hall, is a historic plantation estate at 1522 North Main Street in Mount Pleasant, Maury County, Tennessee. Although supplied here in a brand-encyclopedia format, it is not a conventional commercial brand or operating company. Its identity is associated with a landmark property, an antebellum mansion, and the families who owned it during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The centerpiece of the property is a large brick mansion completed in 1845 for George Washington Polk, a member of the extended Polk family and a relative of President James K. Polk. The house is regarded as one of Tennessee's most elaborate expressions of Greek Revival architecture. Its design includes a shallow hipped roof, a two-story stepped colonnade, a projecting pedimented portico supported by four columns, and stuccoed brickwork. Interior features include substantial Greek Revival woodwork and plaster decoration. The estate was originally part of a much larger plantation of approximately 5,648 acres. Its construction relied on enslaved labor, placing the property within the economic and social system of slavery that shaped antebellum Tennessee. Polk and his family occupied the mansion for roughly fifteen years before selling it in 1867 to Joseph Granberry. The Granberry family retained the property for more than five decades and used the name Oakwood Hall during much of that period. Rattle and Snap survived the American Civil War, when many Southern plantations and large houses were damaged, looted, or destroyed. A local tradition attributes its survival to a Union officer's alleged recognition of George Washington Polk's Masonic affiliation. This explanation is part of the property's remembered history rather than a documented operational or commercial fact. The name Rattle and Snap is also traditionally linked to a story that the land was won from the governor of North Carolina in a game of chance called “rattle and snap.” The property was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971 in recognition of its architectural importance and its association with the Polk family, which had been among eastern Tennessee's substantial landowning families. The estate remains privately owned and is reportedly available for viewing by appointment. Its significance today is architectural, historical, and cultural rather than commercial: it represents antebellum plantation society, the legacy of the Polk family, the preservation of Greek Revival design, and the complicated history of slavery and the Civil War in the American South.

Rattle and Snap is an antebellum estate in Maury County, Tennessee, centered on a mansion constructed in 1845 by George Washington Polk. Polk belonged to the wider Polk family of Tennessee and was related to James K. Polk, the eleventh president of the United States. His father, Colonel William Polk, had been a North Carolina native and Revolutionary War officer who later served as surveyor-general of Tennessee's Middle District. The Polk family's regional landholding background helped establish the social and economic setting in which the estate was created. The original plantation covered approximately 5,648 acres, although the surviving estate is now reported to comprise more than 500 acres. The mansion was built using enslaved labor, as was common for large plantations in the antebellum South. Its scale and architectural treatment made it one of the most imposing residences in Maury County. The house employs the Greek Revival vocabulary through its monumental two-story colonnade, central temple-front portico, pediment, stuccoed brick exterior, and decorative interior woodwork and plaster. George Washington Polk and his family lived at the property for about fifteen years. In 1867, following the Civil War and the financial difficulties experienced by the Polk family, the estate was sold to Joseph Granberry. The Granberry family retained ownership for more than fifty years. During their tenure the property was known as Oakwood Hall, a name that remains part of its historical record. The property is also called the Polk-Granberry House in recognition of both principal nineteenth-century ownership periods. The mansion escaped the destruction that affected numerous Southern plantations and residences during the Civil War. A local account says that a senior Union officer spared the building after noticing a Masonic ring in a portrait of Polk and identifying a shared Masonic connection. The story is frequently associated with the house's survival, but it should be understood as a tradition rather than a fully established explanation. Another traditional account connects the name Rattle and Snap with a game of chance through which the land was supposedly won from the governor of North Carolina. In 1971, Rattle and Snap was designated a National Historic Landmark. The designation recognized both the exceptional Greek Revival character of the mansion and its connection to the Polk family, historically one of the prominent landholding families in the region. The property is privately owned and is not described as a conventional museum or regularly operating public attraction. Visits may be arranged by appointment. Its historical interpretation must account not only for architectural achievement and family history but also for the enslaved labor and plantation system that supported its construction and operation.

• 1971

  National Historic Landmark designation

  [1]Rattle and Snapen.wikipedia.org

  Rattle and Snap was designated a National Historic Landmark for its architecture and Polk-family associations.

• 1920

  End of the Granberry ownership era

  [1]Rattle and Snapen.wikipedia.org

  The Granberry family's ownership is reported to have continued until approximately 1920, during which the property was known as Oakwood Hall.

• 1867

  Sale to the Granberry family

  [1]Rattle and Snapen.wikipedia.org

  The Polk family sold the estate to Joseph Granberry after approximately fifteen years of residence.

• 1845

  Completion of the mansion

  [1]Rattle and Snapen.wikipedia.org

  George Washington Polk completed the principal Greek Revival mansion on the plantation estate.

A preserved antebellum Greek Revival landmark whose public identity rests on architectural distinction, Polk-family associations, and historical significance rather than on commercial products or services.

1. 1Rattle and Snapen.wikipedia.org