Preservationists Want State To Stop Fort Negley Development

NASHVILLE, TN — A preservationist group is asking the state historical commission to place the area aroundFort Negley under the aegis of the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act to stop a controversial effort to bring commercial development to the Civil War site.

The Friends of Fort Negley filed a petition with the Tennessee Historical Commission to declare the fort and an adjacent 21 acres as protected under the THPA. The site is being pushed by Metro Mayor Megan Barry's administration for commercial and residential development led by music industry power player T-Bone Burnett.

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Fort Negley, atop St. Cloud Hill and neighboring Greer Stadium, the former home of the Nashville Sounds, was a crucial site during the Civil War occupation of Nashville and the Battle of Nashville. More than 2,700 African-Americans helped build the original fort in 1862 and only 300 were paid. Records indicate that between 600 and 800 were buried at or near what is now Greer Stadium. The current Fort Negley is a reconstruction built during the New Deal era.

The THPA requires that before removing a memorial from a public site, the controlling entity must petition the historical commission for a waiver, which can only be approved with a two-thirds majority. Largely considered a legislative response to local efforts to remove statues commemorating Confederate soldiers, the THPA attracted some attention in the last legislative session due to a scheme to relocate the tombs of President James K. Polk and his wife Sarah from the Capitol grounds to Columbia.

The development proposal calls for retail, residential and some green space on the site. Metro is committed to an archaeological study before moving forward.

Photo via Metro Parks