A new home development in Williamson County is going vertical with site work being completed soon, but you may not actually see the construction as you pass the future community on Nolensville Road.
“You're gonna see lot one up on Nolensville and then probably every other house you won't even see unless you drive down their driveway,” Joshua Randolph, member of developer Arrington Wilder GP, told The News. “I mean each house is really tucked into the woods and intentionally hidden.”
Arrington Woods is a 90-acre development that will be built within the forested area rather than clearing the trees.
“I think homeowners are wanting that not only just aesthetically – because it's cool to live among the trees – but also being sustainable, responsible human beings that want to live in a place that is good for our environment,” Randolph said. “Tree preservation is such a massive part of that.”
Arrington Wilder GP purchased the land for $4.1 million in November 2022 as four separate parcels and the final plot is pending approval as infrastructure is completed. It is located in Arrington at 7820 Nolensville Road about 15 miles from downtown Franklin, five miles from Arrington Elementary and about one-and-a-half miles from St. Michael Academy.
There are only 11 lots in the future gated community; all are more than five acres with the largest being 8.66. Marabeth Poole from the LCT Team at Parks is the real estate agent for the community.
Arrington Woods
Renderings of houses in the future Arrington Woods private community
“A lot of the folks that have started to kind of garner interest in Arrington Woods have been people from those nearby neighborhoods that are looking for a little bit more elbow room, but already love the area,” Randolph said. “They already understand Arrington and Nolensville and Franklin, so they want to stay down there.”
The developer is allowing homeowners to work with their own selected builders for their individual homes. The company will have a design review committee that works with homeowners to develop the kind of transitional modern architecture style of homes it envisions. Homes will likely range from $5 million and lots are currently for sale just under $1 million.
Arrington Wilder GP is also planning to donate about 14 acres of land to the Battle of Franklin Trust to protect historic Civil War entrenchments on the property. BOFT chief executive officer Eric Jacobson said the earthen fort was built in early 1863 and has been on the radar of preservation groups for a long time, but the land has always been privately owned.
“More than anything, our goal is just to help save it, so that nothing can ever happen to it,” Jacobson said. “We will probably have periodic tours maybe every quarter, a couple, three times a year, where we will take people to the site and we will guide them. But, that also allows us to protect it. It allows us to ensure its integrity.”
Even though Arrington Woods is a private community, meaning the preserved land will be as well, it is important to BOFT to tell the story of the fort, which is why they will host these guided tours.
Jacobson explained that this area, known as Triune, was one of three forts that were jumping-off points for federal troops who headed South to Columbia from Franklin, Shelbyville from Triune and, eventually, Chattanooga from Murfreesboro.
“So, as they're moving in one direction there is this – it is like a biblical exodus of enslaved people, and they are flooding out of the rural areas of Williamson County [and] Bedford County, and where they're going is North and they're being processed through places like Triune,” Jacobson said.
He went on to say that many of the men would go on to become part of the Army for what was called the United States Colored Troops.
“Places like Triune in 1863 were like a beacon of hope because for the enslaved it meant there was an opportunity to get away from this system,” Jacobson said. “And that's where the breakdown begins and the old South starts to just collapse. And that’s a story that we will tell.
“They were refugees in our country, and we have not done a good job telling that incredibly powerful human story of people's simple desire to just be free. That's what's happening right there. They're pouring out of the Chapel Hill area, south of there, and they're just flooding north because they knew guys in blue uniforms meant freedom.
“Within the enslaved communities, communication was almost instantaneous. I mean, it's not quite like today, but everybody knew what was happening. The white power base was totally losing control. I think that's just an incredibly moving story that can only be told at a place like Triune. Nothing better than to be at the place where stuff like that happened.”