Adelicia Acklen

Adelicia Hayes was born in Nashville and married plantation owner and slave trader Isaac Franklin in 1839. After his death she inherited extensive land, financial assets and hundreds of enslaved people, becoming one of the wealthiest women in Tennessee. She later married Joseph Acklen, with whom she built Belmont Mansion as an elaborate summer estate.

During the Civil War Belmont was used for periods by Union forces, and Acklen preserved much of her property through the conflict. She married physician William Archer Cheatham after Acklen’s death and remained active in Nashville society, charitable work and art collecting. She sold Belmont in 1887 and died in New York that year.

In Tamera Alexander’s A Beauty so Rare, the story places charitable reform, women’s economic insecurity and postwar family disruption within Adelicia Acklen’s wealthy household. In Tamera Alexander’s A Lasting Impression, set within Adelicia Acklen’s household and postwar Nashville society, the novel contrasts artistic beauty with the moral damage caused by fraud, revenge and inherited privilege. Further fictional perspectives on Adelicia Acklen can be found in Tamera Alexander’s A Note yet Unsung.