Cragfont

Cragfont was a showpiece before Tennessee was a state. Masons raised the house between 1798 and 1802 from gray limestone quarried near the site, in the style of Maryland and Virginia mansions; a ballroom floor was added around 1810. Susan Black Winchester raised eight daughters and six sons here and stayed in the house until her death in 1862, thirty-six years after her husband's. Enslaved people lived in row quarters west of the family cemetery; those buildings have not survived. The Tennessee Historical Commission bought the property in 1958 and it is open as a historic site.

What the plaque says

Cragfont 0.7 mile north, the home of James Winchester, built by artisans from his home state of Maryland and completed in 1802. He was a War of 1812 brigadier general, and in association with General Andrew Jackson and Judge John Overton was one of Memphis' founders. He is buried in the family plot behind the house.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Wynnewood State Historic Site — 1.4 mi
  A National Historic Landmark log inn at the Bledsoe's Lick springs, beside a Mississippian mound center and tied to the domestic slave trade.
• Andrew Jackson's Hermitage — 20 mi
  Andrew Jackson's cotton plantation east of Nashville, where visitors can walk to the quarters, Alfred's Cabin and the Enslaved Cemetery as well as the mansion.
• Ryman Auditorium — 29 mi
  The 1892 brick tabernacle in downtown Nashville that was the Grand Ole Opry's home from 1943 to 1974, now a National Historic Landmark and working concert hall.
• National Museum of African American Music — 29 mi
  A downtown Nashville museum, opened in 2021, tracing gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and hip-hop through Black history from 1619 to 2016.

More markers nearby

• Bledsoe's Fort and Monument — 1.0 mi
• Abraham "Abram" Bledsoe — 1.0 mi
• Bledsoe's Lick — 1.4 mi
• William Brimage Bate — 1.4 mi