CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – (CLARKSVILLENOW) Perhaps the most well-known and historic home in Clarksville, the Smith-Trahern Mansion, holds a place of folklore in the city’s past. Many believe it is haunted by a tormented spirit.
The house, at the corner of Spring and McClure Streets, was built in 1858 by Christopher Smith for his bride Lucy.
Debbie Johnson, Director of Smith-Trahern Mansion, said Smith was a wealthy tobacconist and businessman who had an export and import business that was operated from Clarksville Landing on the Cumberland River.
Johnson said because of his business, Smith spent a lot of time in New Orleans traveling by riverboat. On one of those trips he contracted yellow fever and died in New Orleans. His body was then put on a steamboat to be returned to Clarksville.
The steamboat was the called the Sultana, which exploded and sank near Memphis on the Mississippi River in April of 1865. An estimated 1,200 people died in the disaster and Smith’s body was lost forever.
Photos by Lee Erwin & Visit Clarksville
Much of the folklore surrounding the house comes from the reported sightings of Lucy, who died in 1905, described more often as a ghostly shadow walking across one of the unique fixtures at the top of the front of the home, which is known as the widow’s walk.
The widow’s walk was found mostly on coastal homes where wives could watch for the return of their husbands from the sea. The widow’s walk at the Trahern Manson was built so Lucy would have a view of the river and could watch for Christopher as he returned home.
Johnson said many people believe Lucy went up on the widow’s walk to wait for her husband even after she knew he wasn’t coming back.
The Trahern name for the mansion, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, comes from Joseph Trahern, who bought and renovated the house in the 1940s.
For more information about the mansion or to book an event, visit the official website.