John Harding

Early life John Harding was born in Goochland County, Virginia on November 2, 1777. By 1820, he expanded the farm to 3800 acres and constructed a brick Federal style home. He invested in thoroughbreds, and developed it as the Belle Meade Plantation, devoted to raising high-quality blooded livestock. In 1823, he registered his silks with the Nashville Jockey Club and was racing some of his thoroughbred horses. The plantation also included businesses: a blacksmith shop, grist mill, and saw mill.

Harding also owned four other plantations in the South: a sugar plantation in Louisiana, and cotton plantations in Mississippi County, Arkansas, Alabama, and in the Pennington bend between the Stones and Cumberland rivers in Nashville.

Harding invested in the Nashville Female Academy and sent his two daughters there. By 1839, he turned the Belle Meade Plantation operations over to his son William Giles Harding, as he was busy developing a 10,000-acre cotton plantation in Mississippi County, Arkansas in the lowland delta of the Mississippi River. After returning to Nashville, he moved with his wife into a townhouse at 85 Spring Street in Nashville.

Personal life Harding married Susannah Shute on August 6, 1806. They had six children. Three survived infancy: son William Giles Harding (1808–1886), and two daughters, Elizabeth and Amanda.

Death Harding died on September 16, 1867, in Nashville.