Reconstruction

A. N. C. Williams, born enslaved at Spring Hill in 1844 and sold at six to D. R. Crutcher of Franklin, taught himself to write by tracing scraps of paper. Freed in 1863, he opened the first Black-owned business downtown, a shoe shop with the preacher William Perkins, lost in the 1864 battle. On the night of the 1867 riot, he tried to tell white Conservatives that the league meant to march in peace. In 1867 he split a lot at Second and Church, selling part to the piano teacher Mary Hilbreth and part to an AME church.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Carnton — 1.6 mi
  The McGavock farm in Franklin, worked by 44 enslaved people in 1860, that became the largest field hospital of the Battle of Franklin.
• Fort Negley — 16 mi
  The largest inland stone fort of the Civil War, built in 1862 on St. Cloud Hill by more than 2,700 conscripted Black laborers, hundreds of whom died.
• National Museum of African American Music — 17 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.
• Ryman Auditorium — 17 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.

More markers nearby

• The Franklin Riot of 1867 — steps away
• Union Headquarters — steps away
• Historic Franklin Masonic Hall — steps away
• John H. Eaton — steps away