Ramsey House
National Register of Historic Places

Ramsey House

Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
Listed
December 22, 1969
Type
Building
Period
Colonial
Ref No.
69000180

About this property

The Ramsey House is a two-story stone house in Knox County, Tennessee, United States. Also known as Swan Pond, the house was constructed in 1797 by English architect Thomas Hope for Colonel Francis Alexander Ramsey (1764–1820), whose family operated a plantation at the site until the U.S. Civil War. In 1969, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and its role in the region's early 19th-century history. Francis Alexander Ramsey arrived in what is now Greene County in 1783, and shortly thereafter made a surveying trip down the Holston River, where he first identified the future site of the Ramsey House. Throughout the 1780s, he served as an official of the fledgling State of Franklin, and later served in various capacities in the governments of the Southwest Territory and the State of Tennessee. Ramsey's children included early Knoxville mayor, W. B. A. Ramsey, and early Tennessee historian and businessman, J. G. M. Ramsey, both of whom occupied the Ramsey House at various times. Due to their Confederate sympathies, the Ramseys fled Knoxville when the Union Army occupied the city during the Civil War, and the family sold the house in 1866. The Knoxville Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities (APTA) purchased the Ramsey House in 1952, and currently maintains the house and grounds as a museum.

Location

Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
35.96735, -83.82574

Categories

POLITICS/GOVERNMENTARCHITECTURE
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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The Land
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Geology
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Conflict & War
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The Civil War
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The Soldiers
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Native Heritage
The Native nations who held this land, mapped across time from before European contact to today.
Settlement
Who claimed and held this ground, from Indigenous homelands through the colonial powers to the United States.
The Community
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Rivers & Rail
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Notable People
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Finds & Access
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Nearby Historic Sites

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0.9 mi
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Riverdale Mill
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2.8 mi
Riverdale Historic District
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2.9 mi
Tennessee School for the Deaf Historic District
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3 mi

Nearby Battles

Battle of Boyd's Creek
1780Revolutionary War
1.9 mi

Questions about this property

When was Ramsey House listed on the National Register?

Ramsey House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 1969.

What type of historic resource is Ramsey House?

Ramsey House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Ramsey House?

The period of significance for Ramsey House is recorded as the colonial era, specifically around 1764.

Can I research the history near Ramsey House?

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