Our neighborhood was the place to be if you were in country music in the 1950s and ’60s. If you didn’t live here, you wrote and played here. With Mother Maybelle Carter and family as the keystone of the country music scene, we would see legendary musicians call our neighborhood home. Hank Snow’s famous Rainbow Ranch is here, as well as the homes of legendary bluegrass duos, Flatt and Scruggs. June Carter and Mike Kilgore wrote the fam0us “Ring of Fire” here.
- Carl Smith and June Carter – 1020 Gibson Dr
- “Mother Maybelle” and Ezra Carter – 1020 Gibson Dr
- Hank Snow’s Rainbow Ranch – 312 E Marthona Rd
- Earl Scruggs – 201 Donna Dr
- Lester Flatt – 205 Donna Dr
- Josh Graves – 810 Chadwell Dr
- Loretta Lynn – 712 Barbara Dr
- Patsy Cline – 213 E Marthona Rd
- Jack Anglin – 128 W Marthona Rd
- Harlan and Jan Howard – 1017 S Graycroft Ave
- Joe and Rose Lee Maphis – 1017 S Graycroft Ave
- George Morgan – 1021 S Graycroft Ave
- Stu Basore – 916 Beaumont Dr
Development History
Our neighborhood used to be farmland into the 1930s. Old maps up to that point show which families owned the farms, with some familiar local family names such as Woodruff, Stratton and Ezell. As rural Davidson County started to become suburban between the ’40s and ’60s, farms and family homesteads would be sold off and turned into new subdivisions.
East and West Marthona
- Created out of the old Ezell Farm, the Marthonna Subdivison was not contiguous to the rest of the neighborhood. The road through the subdivision loop was called Ezell Road West, South and East. It would later be changed to Marthonna Road West, South and East. Marthonna Road South would become Vantrease Road once it is connected to the rest of the neighborhood.
- “Marthonna” was the name of the Ezells’ original home in Belle Meade Park.
- At some point in ’60s as the neighborhood roads were redrawn and connected between previously separate subdivisions, the spelling of “Marthonna” changed to “Marthona”.
Barbara Drive
- Loretta Lynn’s home on Barbara Drive was also featured in the movie Coal Miner’s Daugher.
Gibson Drive
- The land at the corner of Old Hickory and Gibson Drive used to be owned by the Finn family, and the top section of Gibson used to be known as Finn Street. (There is a letter F on the chimney on the white house on corner of OHB and Gibson.) It wasn’t until the late ’50s that Gibson Drive was connected all the way from Old Hickory to Due West.
Old Hickory Boulevard
- Old Hickory Blvd used to be called Halls Lane from Gallatin Road to Dickerson Pike.
- Old Hickory Blvd used to cross the railroad tracks at street level. Sometime between 1975 and 1980, a bridge was added, and it was raised above the rail tracks.