oaklands historic house museum

Oaklands provides a unique experience nestled in the very heart of Murfreesboro. What a hidden gem! Yesterday, our tour guide, Connor, treated our group of ladies to an informative tour of the mansion that was both entertaining and enlightening. He did a great job of answering our wide range of questions about the history of this beautiful home, the people who have lived there and the variety of furnishings. I came away from the tour with an even better understanding of the customs of the time period as well as an appreciation for women who were willing to step up and preserve this piece of history. This beautiful plantation house includes a museum that features wedding dresses on display from many decades. Displayed with each dress is a brief personal story that helps to see the dress as more than just a beautiful art piece of fabric and lace. I left feeling I had met many women (and their families) through many decades by hearing the special memories attached to their dresses. I highly recommend taking time for both the dress exhibit AND the mansion tour. You can do all in a couple hours. The wedding dress exhibit is a special one that ends on March 8th, so HURRY and go see it! Another note about Connor -- one of the ladies from our group could not go upstairs in the mansion, so she stayed behind us with the plan of just sitting on the steps while she waited. As soon as we gathered upstairs, Connor noticed one of our group of 15 was missing. We told him that our friend couldn't do the stairs so was waiting for us on the first floor. He excused himself for a couple minutes to go get her a chair. It was such a sweet gesture for him to think of getting her a chair to wait instead of sitting on the stairs.

A group of us women (15) toured this fabulous mansion and the exhibit "Wedding Dresses through the Decades". When I booked this tour I was more interested in seeing the exhibit of the wedding dresses than the mansion. When I entered the mansion I felt as if I had taken a step back in time. The house was beautifully decorated and our tour director, Connor Moss, was so knowledgeable concerning the history of the mansion. He was warm and engaging which made our tour even better.

I got here early in the day so had a private tour with Mac as my guide. He was friendly and personable and had a reasonably good grasp on the history of this place. It was founded around the 1820s and built up by the Maney family, a wealthy and prestigious local clan descended from French Huguenots. Like many houses of the era it started out small and gradually became enormous as the family become wealthy from the cotton (and slave) trade. Seeing how it was added to was one of the most interesting parts of the entire tour.Of particular interest, one room in the house played host to Jefferson Davis himself during the Civil War. The house fell into gradual disrepair and was condemned in the mid 20th century, it was only by a great deal of foresight that the community rallied to save and restore it to the wonderful example of Antebellum southern architecture that it is now. About a third of the furniture is original to the house with the remainder chosen to reflect what the place would have likely looked like. Worth a visit.

Raina is a great tour guide. Enjoyed her tour and her love for history. The mansion is in good hands. Keep up the good work!

The Fort Nashborough Daughters of the American Revolution had the privilege of taking a tour of this Civl War era mansion. One member of our group's great-grandfather lived in the house - which made the tour paritcularly speacial. Raina, our extremely knowledgeable and pleasant tour guide, did an excellent job. The home is well kept and the grounds are gorgeous. The gift shop holds many treasures! The Historic Wedding Gown display was beautiful.

Oaklands is the home of the Maney family. It is a fascinating example of how a family kept enlarging their home as the family grew. This house is beautiful and intriguing in its design. It has a public section and a family section. The Maney's were wealthy and the guest or public parts of the house show this. The house was witness to Civil War conflicts, which makes it an historical entity worth visiting. The docent who took us through the house was very knowledgeable and added much to the visit with his stories of the family. A bonus to our visit was a display of weeding gowns (about 50) dating from the early 1800's to today. They were all very nicely displayed with a story about the bride. A must see while you are in Murfreesboro.

Raina was a great tour guide. A lot of history in this area. We found watching the video was helpful before we took the tour.

I had this review all set in my mind and got derailed by seeing the other reviews...For me, one of the best parts of this tour (as opposed to nearly anywhere else in the south) is that they didn't beat the Civil War history of the place into your dead horse hair. The graceful manse did figure prominently in the battles fought nearby and even on the property itself, but they make the first claim and display proudly the tie to the Revolutionary War and the birth of western style "civil" ization in the area. They even and especially show how the area was a favorite of the native americans even before that.The property itself is a very impressive piece of real estate even without any of the historical tales to regale the wayward tour member, but when you begin to see the history and the monumental effort that the first home owners put into maintaining the land grant, the place becomes nothing short of amazing. The number and kinds of trees and flowers are stunning. The spring a special beauty and the park a delight. The house shows all the stages of its development, displaying all one hundred and fifty plus years of the work and care the owners put into it with aplomb.History breathes here. The families that kept the property and furnished the rebuilt home once the history buffs got ahold of it deserve praise. The home itself is restored very much as it might have once been, though the loss of so much of the first woodwork is surely significant and disappointing.Walk the grounds. See the vision of the families that worked to keep the appearance of the plantation through hard times and dwindling fortunes. Acknowledge the indifference of the community and the way the city finally recognized the treasure here. Burying the past is always an option, but seeing it leap back up out the cold ground is forever gratifying.This is an absolute coup for the City of Murfreesboro! The tour was more than educational, more than descriptive, it was a living monument. I highly recommend the house, the tour, the staff, the activities and the gift shop (filled with well chosen offerings).

HistoricalEducationalCivil War SiteGreat for studentsTour Guides are ExcellentLocated in the Heart of Murfreesboro

This is one of those hidden, unexpected jewels you didn't know existed until driving by a sign marking it's existence. We were out on a day trip not sure what was in store for our day and decided to give the museum a try.The museum was very nice and we enjoyed the video describing the home in it's historical setting. However, the stellar part of the visit was the tour of the home with historical interpreter Mac Bouldin. It was very well done, leisurely, and informative. Mac did a wonderful job and I enjoyed it immensely.I strongly recommend this house and museum as a wonderful trip to the past and history of Murfreesboro.

We arrived at the Historic Civil War Mansion at 2:30 PM We were the only couple on the tour. The tour guide's name was Raina, she is the event planner and guide. Raina is very knowledgeable in the history of the family and the grounds. We had a great hour tour and learned several bits of Civil War history. Raina was an awesome guide.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must say that the Maneys were ancestors of mine, George being my GG Grandfather, although he is not part of the Maneys residing in this home. I contributed some of the historical documents on display in the Visitors Center/Gift Shop. My brother and I visited because of the family ties and were impressed with the state of the house, as well as the interesting and informative tour. We saw portraits of family members and period furniture, and got a broad view of the changing nature of the house and operations around it. If you visit Murfreesboro, this has to be visit if you have any interest at all in the history of the area.

I thoroughly enjoyed our tour which I did with my 7 and 8 year old son and they raved about it too. Raina was a great tour guide with so many great facts and stories about the home and surrounding area. Who knew what "mind your beeswax" really meant?

This was a beautiful mansion, very well restored and our tour guide, Raina, did an outstanding job and was very personable. We loved it and may come back next year for the Christmas tour.

Lovingly restored and maintained 1800's plantation manor. Our tour guide, Raine, was very good and gave us information I had never heard before about the old southern way of life. Well worth a visit. The video was very informative as well.