Triune is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in eastern

Williamson County, Tennessee Williamson County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 247,726. The county seat is Franklin, and the county is located in Middle Tennessee. The county is named after Hugh Williams ...

, approximately halfway between

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People * Franklin (given name) * Franklin (surname) * Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class Places Australia * Franklin, Tasmania, a township * Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...

and

Murfreesboro Murfreesboro is a city in and county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 152,769 according to the 2020 census, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010. Murfreesboro is located in the Nashville metropol ...

. The community is located along the Wilson Branch of the Harpeth River. The intersection of former local roads State Route 96 (Murfreesboro Road) and the concurrency of U.S. Routes 31A and 41A (Nolensville Road) is here. The community is located just north of these roads interchange with Interstate 840.

History

The earliest recorded non-Native American settlement in the Triune area was by William Jordan, a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

n who built a log cabin there in 1796. By the early 1800s, a community had developed, called Hardeman's Crossroads after an early landowner. Settlers continued to arrive from Virginia and Kentucky, sometimes bringing slaves with them. By the 1820s the community consisted of a number of substantial buildings, including a general store, saloons, and a leather shop. Local cotton

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s even had their own

mill Mill may refer to: Science and technology * * Mill (grinding) * Milling (machining) * Millwork * Textile mill * Steel mill, a factory for the manufacture of steel * List of types of mill * Mill, the arithmetic unit of the Analytical Engine early ...

s and cotton gins. The planters had brought in numerous enslaved African Americans. The Hardeman Academy was opened in 1828 as a private boys school, and the Hardeman's Crossroads post office had opened by 1830. The community's name was then changed to Flemingsburg. The Triune Methodist Church, built in 1849 as the first church structure in the community, and in time the community adopted Triune as its permanent name.Robert S. Brandt (1995)
Touring the Middle Tennessee Backroads
p. 180. John F. Blair, Publisher. , . Five schools for white children were built between 1820 and 1845. During the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Triune was the site of several military engagements. A number of

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

brigades under General Braxton Bragg defended Middle Tennessee, and in December 1862 the area saw military activity related to the

Battle of Stones River The Battle of Stones River, also known as the Second Battle of Murfreesboro, was a battle fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the Am ...

at Murfreesboro. Essentially a drawn battle, the Confederates nevertheless retreated and the

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union of the collective states. It proved essential to th ...

occupied Triune, erecting fortifications to control the crossroads. Between April and June 1863, several cavalry skirmishes were fought in Triune, including one in June in which Confederate forces led under Nathan Bedford Forrest broke through the Union lines. The

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

and

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...

churches, several homes, and the Porter Female Academy were burned by Union troops in 1863.Bostick Female Academy historical marker
Edge of the Wildwood website, August 23, 2010 The community slowly rebuilt after the war, though by the 1880s Triune still had only 57 white residents. On May 2, 1892, African Americans in the area reportedly killed at least three white residents in retaliation for the lynching of Ephraim Grizzard in Nashville. Grizzard had been taken from jail and a mob estimated at over 10,000 gathered to see him hanged from a city bridge. Nashville is 30 miles north of Triune and those killed by the African Americans had no known connection to the Nashville lynching. Bostick Female Academy

Dr. Jonathan Bostick, a

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

planter, had been a trustee of Porter Female Academy and knew it was destroyed in the war. Before his death in 1868, he made a bequest in his will to establish a "suitable site and buildings" for a new "female academy" in Tennessee.

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

''Peters v. Bowman'', 98 U.S. 56, 25 L.Ed. 91
October term 1878. Because his descendants contested the will, there was a long delay in implementing the bequest. Litigation reached the

, which upheld his bequest. Some of land in Triune were purchased for the development of what was called the Bostick Female Academy. It was built in 1892 and began operation in 1893. The Bostick Female Academy operated until about 1900 as a girls' boarding and

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compa ...

for whites, enrolling as many as 75 girls. After the state started to fund public education, parents no longer supported

private school Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

ing. The Hardeman Academy, built in 1828 as a boys' school, was converted to a public school. After it was destroyed by fire in 1904, the Bostick Female Academy building was used as the community public school. It served this role until the mid-20th century; since then it has been purchased and used as a private residence. Modern Triune is the site of a manufacturing facility that produces equipment for harvesting

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

, still a commodity crop in Middle Tennessee.

Landmark buildings

*The Bostick Female Academy building is now used as a private residence; it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1982. *Triune Methodist Church, built in 1874 on the foundation of the church's first building, is another 19th-century landmark building in town. *Several homes built in the early 19th century were also still standing as of 1988. *A more recent local landmark is Castle Gwynn, built as a replica of a 12th-century

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

border castle. It was built as a private residence beginning in 1980. In the early 21st century, it serves as the location of the Tennessee Renaissance Festival, a

Renaissance fair A Renaissance fair, Renaissance faire or Renaissance festival is an outdoor gathering open to the public and typically commercial in nature, which purportedly recreates a historical setting for the amusement of its guests. Some are permanent the ...

held annually in May.Jessica Muzo
"The Story Behind Castle Gwynn is a Labor of Love"
''Tennessee Home and Farm'', March 1, 2007

References

Gallery

Topographical_Sketch_of_the_Country_Adjacent_to_the_Turnpoke_between_Nolensville_and_Chapel_Hill,_Tenn._Compiled_from..._-_NARA_-_305681.tif, Topographical sketch with Triune and vicinity circa 1861-1865. {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Williamson County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Populated places established in 1796 1796 establishments in Tennessee