RECLAIMING THE CARTER HILL BATTLEFIELD The success of the reclamation of the Eastern Flank Battlefield Park led to efforts beginning in 2005 and running through 2025 to reclaim the land around the Carter House. This area had long been an eyesore to preservationists. Although this property was the site of the most dramatic fighting between Union and Confederate forces during the 1864 Battle of Franklin, there was almost nothing left (other than the Carter House itself) to commemorate the historic battle. Instead, the area had been turned into a variety of retail, office, and commercial buildings. Efforts led by Franklin’s Charge, The Battle of Franklin Trust, and the City of Franklin, with financial support from the American Battlefield Trust, the TCWNHA, numerous preservation organizations and private donors, have resulted in the removal of office buildings, a Pizza Hut, a flower shop, a retail strip center, a Domino’s restaurant, residential structures, a pottery shop, and a warehouse property. Following removal of these buildings, the land on which they sat was restored to a Civil War battlefield site and is now known as the Carter Hill Battlefield Park. This effort largely restored the viewshed around the Carter House to its 1864 appearance. The Carter Hill Battlefield Park features interpretive elements such as replica Civil War era cannons and specific signage. As the preservation groups acquired the property, they transferred the property to the City of Franklin. The City of Franklin maintains the Carter Hill Battlefield Park in much the same fashion as it does for the Eastern Flank Battlefield Park. Additionally, in 2015 the State of Tennessee permitted the removal of the old Franklin High School gym from the property adjoining the Carter House. The removal of the gym opened up additional parkland around the south side of the Carter House. At the same time, the State approved the construction of a new Carter House Visitor Center on property adjoining the Carter House. In late 2025, the State of Tennessee broke ground on the new Visitor Center. It is currently under construction. VISIONS OF A ROPER’S KNOB PARK In 2007, the Heritage Foundation placed a conservation easement on a property on Roper’s Knob and conveyed it to the City with the intention that a passive historic public park be constructed on the site. In 2025, A 13+ acre property adjoining Roper’s Knob signal station was acquired by Franklin’s Charge to be transferred to the City. This will be a major step in establishing public access to Roper’s Knob. The development of a Master Plan is underway for the entire Roper’s Knob area for future use as a historic Civil War Park. CONTINUING ACQUISITIONS Although the efforts to reclaim the property that formed the Eastern Flank and Carter Hill Battlefield Parks are the most recognized Civil War preservation efforts during this time period, many other significant preservation efforts occurred. Chief among those efforts were the acquisition of a variety of properties that at present have not yet been developed into Civil War sites: those acquisitions include: • The reclamation of a car wash located on Columbia Avenue and the conversion of that property into battlefield property that marked the Union forward line during the Battle of Franklin known as the Wagner Line; • The acquisition of a veterinarian clinic adjoining the Wagner Line property with plans to demolish the buildings and to expand the Wagner Line property; • The acquisition and demolition of a residential structure also located along Columbia Avenue in the vicinity of the Wagner Line properties; • The acquisition of property on Thompson Alley, near Collins Farm; and • The acquisition of two acres on Highway 96W which marks the northwestern line of Union forces during the Battle of Franklin. 86 FRANKLIN, TN | PRESERVATION PLAN
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