Rose Glen

Rose Glen was an antebellum plantation in Sevierville, Tennessee, established in the late 1840s by Dr. Robert Hatton Hodsden, a physician and politician. At its height it was one of the largest and most lucrative farms in East Tennessee, and by 1860 it had grown to 2,377 acres, making it by far the most valuable farm in Sevier County. The plantation produced oats, wheat, sweet potatoes, hay, wool, molasses, butter, and one of East Tennessee's largest rice crops, and it also had a small winery. Hodsden and 15 enslaved people worked the land. The plantation house and several outbuildings—including a physician's office, a loom house, and a double-cantilever barn—have survived intact and have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house is a tripartite Greek Revival home with a two-story central block flanked by one-story wings, a recessed portico supported by square Doric columns, and a mostly limestone foundation. Historian Robbie Jones calls it the most impressive antebellum house ever constructed in Sevier County. Rose Glen is owned and maintained by Hodsden's descendants. The farm is no longer operational, but the site remains a significant historic property in East Tennessee, located at the junction of Tennessee State Route 416 and Old Newport Highway, a few miles east of Sevierville near the Harrisburg community, on the east bank of the Middle Prong Little Pigeon River.

Rose Glen was established in the late 1840s in rural Sevier County, Tennessee, by Dr. Robert Hatton Hodsden, a physician and politician who by 1860 had become one of the county's wealthiest individuals. The land had earlier been part of a farm known as the "Bush place," established by early settler George Bush. By the 1830s, John Brabson owned the Bush place, and when his daughter Mary married David Shields in 1837, Brabson gave them the property as a wedding gift. Shields built a house there that he called "Rose Glen," but he died suddenly in 1839. In 1843, Mary Brabson-Shields married Hodsden, who thus assumed ownership of the Bush place. In 1846, Hodsden and his wife began building the present house and villa at Rose Glen, completing it in 1850. Robert Hodsden was born in Smithfield, Virginia, in 1806. He initially worked as a tailor in various cities before deciding to study medicine. After obtaining his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia in 1833, he joined the practice of James Gillespie in Maryville, Tennessee. He married his first wife, Elizabeth Hook (d. 1842), in 1832. In 1838 he was appointed attending physician for the Cherokee Removal, commonly known as the "Trail of Tears." A member of the Whig Party, Hodsden was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1841, representing Blount County for four years. In 1843, after the death of his first wife, he married the widow Mary Brabson-Shields (1818–1888), whose father, John Brabson, had established the Brabson's Ferry Plantation at Boyds Creek and had given his daughter what is now Rose Glen as a gift for her first wedding. Hodsden and Brabson-Shields initially resided in Maryville but eventually moved to Rose Glen. In the decade after the house's completion, Hodsden served as the first president of the East Tennessee Medical Society and helped establish Sevier County's first masonic society. Although he was a slave owner and had married into the pro-secession Brabson family, Hodsden remained a staunch Union supporter throughout the Civil War. In 1861, he represented Sevier County at the East Tennessee Union Convention in June and in November was imprisoned after Confederate authorities accused him of aiding Unionist guerrillas in the destruction of several railroad bridges across the Tennessee Valley. He was eventually released and returned to Rose Glen, where he died of heart failure on June 18, 1864. Despite the rift the war had created between Hodsden and his in-laws, he was buried in the Brabson Cemetery at Brabson's Ferry Plantation. By 1860, Rose Glen had grown to 2,377 acres (962 ha), making it by far the most valuable farm in Sevier County. Livestock included 14 horses, 37 cattle, 67 sheep, four oxen, and 180 hogs. Hodsden and 15 slaves produced 3,400 bushels of oats, 360 bushels of wheat, 50 bushels of sweet potatoes, 18 tons of hay, 100 pounds of wool, 300 gallons of molasses, and over 3,000 pounds of butter. Rose Glen's 1,200 pounds of rice was one of the largest rice crops in East Tennessee. The plantation also had a small winery. On January 27, 1864, Rose Glen was a strategic point in a skirmish known as the Battle of Fair Garden, fought between Union forces led by Colonel Edward McCook and Confederate forces led by Major-General William Martin, who was helping to cover James Longstreet's retreat after the Siege of Knoxville. In 1873, Abraham Jackson Hicks (1841–1903) took control of Rose Glen when he married Hodsden's daughter, Mary Pasteur Hodsden (1854–1942). After Hicks' death, Rose Glen passed to his eldest son, John Hodsden Hicks (1874–1948). The farm is no longer operational, but the plantation house and several outbuildings—including a physician's office, loom house, and double-cantilever barn—have survived intact and have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Rose Glen is owned and maintained by Hodsden's descendants.

• 1903

  After Hicks' death, Rose Glen passes to his eldest son, John Hodsden Hicks.

• 1873

  Abraham Jackson Hicks takes control of Rose Glen upon marrying Hodsden's daughter Mary Pasteur Hodsden.

• 1864

  Rose Glen is a strategic point in the Battle of Fair Garden on January 27; Hodsden dies of heart failure on June 18.

• 1861

  Hodsden represents Sevier County at the East Tennessee Union Convention in June; in November he is imprisoned by Confederate authorities.

• 1860

  Rose Glen has grown to 2,377 acres, making it by far the most valuable farm in Sevier County.

• 1850

  Construction of the Rose Glen house is completed.

• 1846

  Hodsden and his wife begin building the present house and villa at Rose Glen.

• 1843

  Mary Brabson-Shields marries Dr. Robert Hatton Hodsden, who assumes ownership of the Bush place.

• 1839

  David Shields dies suddenly.

• 1837

  John Brabson gives the Bush place to his daughter Mary and David Shields as a wedding gift; Shields builds a house he calls Rose Glen.

1. 1Rose Glen (Sevierville, Tennessee) - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Rose Glen - Wikidatawikidata.org