Worlds apart: How enslaved, masters lived on a Tennessee farm

Two slave cabins remarkably survive a short distance (left) from  the circa-1840s
Owen-Primm antebellum farmhouse. (CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE.)

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On a gentle rise near a busy road in Brentwood, the once-stately Owen-Primm antebellum farmhouse barely clings to life. About 35 yards away, two remarkable survivors endure: log slave cabins a local developer plans to restore.

Worn stone steps lead into the humble interior of one cabin, now crowded with 21st-century clutter — an exercise bike, a badminton racquet, pieces of a chicken coop. A large, timeworn horseshoe hangs on the wall; a fragment of a 19th-century ironing board rests on the original wood floor. Hand-chiseled stone blocks form the fireplace, and a small single-drawer table sits against one wall. 

An ancient horseshoe in a 
cabin for the enslaved.

Eight to 10 enslaved people may have lived in each cabin. Some almost certainly slept in the cramped loft, where standing upright was never possible. Who were they? Perhaps one day their names will surface. 

Now abandoned, the dilapidated Greek Revival house at 8318 Moore’s Lane, about 15 miles south of Nashville, once sheltered generations of the Primm family, among the area’s earliest settlers. In 1845, enslaver Thomas Perkins Primm likely expanded a log dwelling built four decades earlier, probably by physician Jabez Owen.  

Much about the house remains uncertain — its history eroded by time, weather and neglect. Dairy farmer Charlie Primm, who died in 2011, was the last direct descendant to own the property. 

Paint peels from four massive Doric columns at the entrance. Weeds push through cracks in the porch beside a pair of aging rocking chairs. A sagging shutter clings to the façade next to a sash window missing one of its twelve panes. Inside, the decay deepens. 

On the first floor, Inetta Gaines and Ashley McAnulty of the Brentwood Historic Commission, developer Jerrold Pedigo, and I stepped carefully around gaping holes in the floor. 

In a musty living room, amid carpets strewn haphazardly, sits a 19th-century mahogany-veneer couch. A chest of drawers more than 150 years old stands in the entry hall; nearby, a patch of floral wallpaper —likely original — offers a brief, fragile lift from the gloom. 

We skipped the varmint-ridden second floor. Our visit ended instead in the damp, mold-streaked basement, where a flashlight beam caught a massive spiderweb. The moment carried particular weight for Gaines, the only Black member of the 12-person Brentwood Historic Commission.

 The slave cabins may yet endure for others to see. The farmhouse, owned by another developer, likely will not. Without a significant investment of time and money, it appears too far gone to save.

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MORE: Read Owen-Primm house National Register of Historic Places form 

Each log slave cabin is believed to have housed eight to 10 people.

The slave quarters shared this chimney.

The original vertical board door leads to a meager interior.

A handmade chain on the slave cabin door. Was it made by a slave?

Well-worn steps at a cabin entrance. 

An ancient fireplace amid modern clutter.

A single-drawer, wooden table, perhaps a long-ago hand-me-down used by the enslaved. 

A chunk of a period ironing board rests on the slave cabin's original flooring.

The Owen-Primm antebellum farmhouse dates to about 1845. 

A decrepit shutter hangs precariously by a window missing a pane.

Weeds, peeling paint on Doric columns and an old rocking chair at an entryway.

One of two towering brick chimneys. 

A once-impressive living room.

A close-up of the fireplace. 

A 19th-century couch, perhaps original to the house.

Original floral wallpaper exposed inside the Owen-Primm House. 

A sturdy original door. 

Windows include the original, 19th-century "wavy" glass panes.

A doorbell from a long-ago era.

A message from long ago.

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