“Old places help us remember. Old places trigger memories people already have, give specificity to memories and arouse curiosity about memories people don’t yet know.”
Thompson Mayes
Historic sites and structures provide timeless connections to our common interests, and they help to foster a strong sense of community. Their presence offers a priceless opportunity to appreciate their history, and to learn more about our heritage.
Far too often, many sites have fallen by the wayside in recent years, being replaced by new commercial and residential construction. Once lost, they become nothing but distant memories, and our ability to study and learn from them soon fades away.
Fortunately, we live in a community that still appreciates its heritage, and whose citizens work hard to preserve it. Sumner County is blessed to have many historic properties that date back to the early days of America, including Cragfont, Rock Castle, Rose Mont and Wynnewood.
Most historic properties have been carefully preserved as museums, forever frozen in time. They are carefully managed and curated for historical accuracy so that we future generations can continue to learn from the past.
However, other properties have been preserved in a different manner. Instead of serving as relics of the past, they have been given a new lease on life by continuing to operate as office space for commercial or nonprofit entities. Once such structure is the historic Comer House.
Located northeast of Hendersonville in Gallatin, the Comer House has been repurposed from a vintage residence into the home of Sumner County Tourism. Every year, thousands of visitors stop by the house to gather brochures, maps and more to help them plan their stays in the county.
“Prior to becoming the headquarters for tourism, the Comer House property had a lengthy history,” says Tourism Director of Business Development Kendall Sarapas. “The land was settled in 1807 by John Franklin, and it was originally called the Woodlawn Plantation. The property passed through a number of Franklin heirs until it was purchased in 1867 by Thomas Black Wilson and his wife Lucy Cragwell.”
After Wilson’s death, his son Thomas Jr. took over the farm and managed it until the mid 1930s when he sold it to Guy Comer, a wealthy businessman from Kentucky who lived in Nashville. He was the founder of Washington Manufacturing Company in Madison. He renovated the original house built the Comer Barn, which is adjacent to the house.
During the 1950s, Comer tore down the original structure and built the current house on the original foundation. Years later, the property was acquired by the Rogers Group, who subsequently leased the property to the county to serve as home for tourism.
"Prior to becoming the headquarters for tourism, the Comer House property had a lengthy history"
Kendall Sarapas