SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) — Off Highway 31 sits a stately home central to the history of Spring Hill and a physical reminder of the role Middle Tennessee played in the Civil War and slavery in the South.

"These were wealthy people. These were not just slave owners. These were people who owned dozens of people. They were the multi-millionaires of their era. They built these huge homes as a symbol of wealth and power," explained Eric Jacobson, CEO of the Battle of Franklin Trust, a non-profit organization that manages historic sites in Middle Tennessee.

In the 1850s, Spring Hill native Nat Cheairs built Rippa Villa.

"The house is built by slave labor, just to touch it, it's just soaked in the history of the blood and sweat and tears of a lot of people," Jacobson said.

Cheairs served as a major in the Confederate army. In fact, Confederate generals met at Rippa Villa the morning after the failed Battle of Spring Hill in 1864, just before the bloodbath of the Battle of Franklin.

"Spring Hill after the war was a community that had to be in shock, because the war had impacted a lot of people," Jacobson said. "Slavery had ended. Most of the people around here got out of cotton, and they just went back to corn and grain and livestock. Spring Hill was really an agricultural community for the next 100 years, until the arrival of General Motors."

GM opened its Spring Hill manufacturing facility in 1990 when the city's population was just 1,500. Now it's close to 65,000.

"We went from a town that was very dependent upon General Motors and their productivity to being a much more diverse economy, said John Fitterer, Mayor of the City of Spring Hill. "Now we're talking about June Lake, and it's a project larger in scope than the Titans stadium. Legacy Point, the Spring Hill Commerce Center, those are projects that can just have a massive, massive impact on Spring Hill and its economic future going forward."

Fitterer was elected mayor last month after serving 10 years as an alderman. He said the city is investing in infrastructure and public safety, with its first ever police headquarters opening this week and a new fire station in November. They're also capitalizing on public-private partnerships.

"Be it the improvements to Buckner Lane or the construction of new water towers, we've got a private project right now putting in a road that the city estimated to cost about $8 to $9 million and was never able to construct," Fitterer said. 

"Our water plant, our sewer plant, as well as all the systems, need a whole bunch of different upgrades, so we're getting that program ramped up and getting ready for a pretty big wave of construction right now," said Dan Allen, assistant city administrator. 

Allen said there are about 12,000 new homes approved to be built, but the city is also focused on commercial and retail development.

"They need services. They don't want to drive to Columbia; they don't want to drive to Cool Springs. They want to have those things in Spring Hill, and we're starting to see that come to fruition right now in front of our eyes," Allen said.

"I think as a community grows and prospers and matures, it wants to understand what it was before they were there," Jacobson said.

That is the value of preserving Rippa Villa and telling the story of Spring Hill.

 "It's not the same place, but there are echoes of the past in the present," Jacobson said.

Rippa Villa is owned by the City of Spring Hill and managed by The Battle of Franklin Trust.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/on-tour-middle-tn/spring-hill-preserves-its-history-while-forging-ahead-with-new-development-infrastructure-improvements/