NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A community has been home to important names in music, business, and art. The people with deep roots to the community are now recording the stories of Nashville's history.
"Good morning, my name is Ronnie Greer," said one man, sitting in front of a camera and lights.
"My name is Brenda Joyce Morrow," said another interviewee.
"Cheryl Denise Griggs," added another.
At the Edgehill Branch Library, histories were being recorded of the people with deep ties to this neighborhood.
"I count my roots in the Edgehill community, about 140 years, back to my great-grandmother," said Ronnie.
"I was born here, right in this neighborhood," said Cheryl. "You could leave your front door open, your windows, sleep outside on the porch."
Some describe an Edgehill history that was an opportunity to grow up around success. There were key people there behind McKissack & McKissack, the oldest Black-owned architecture and construction company in the country. Country Music Hall of Fame member DeFord Bailey lived there. Then there was William Edmondson who began carving limestone in the neighborhood in the 1930s. Edmondson's work is now showcased all over the world including pieces at Cheekwood and Tennessee State Museum.
"That's history. That's Black history," said Ronnie. "We had direction."
These histories are being recorded as part of a community engagement grant to the Vanderbilt Institute for Spatial Research, Department of History of Art and Architecture, and Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries. The interviews are being recorded by the Friends of William Edmondson Homesite non-profit and will be on a public archive soon.
In the interviews, Brenda shared her work to better the community.
"We raised $80,000 to put a new park there," she said. "Organized Neighbors Of Edgehill has a long history, since '91, of providing resources for residents to lift themselves up."
Ronnie voiced concerns over residents being priced out of the neighborhood.
"I already know the neighborhood," Ronnie said. "I know that house isn't worth $400,000. You can't put enough gold in it. Walk down the street, you don't know the neighbors. Now the Black folk who would be living over here are living over in Lebanon because you can't find a place to live."
Alongside those concerns voiced in the interviews, the key point everyone seemed to make is pride for everything the residents accomplished.
"It was a great place to be, a great place to be," said Ronnie.
The oral history recordings are part of a project that also includes a recent 'high-tech treasure hunt' at the William Edmondson Homesite.
"We're working with the VISR team from Vanderbilt," explained documentary filmmaker Mark Schlicher who was documenting that work. "That's the Vanderbilt Institute for Spacial Research. We have a team of geophysicists who have brought out their ground-penetrating radar equipment as well as a very high-resolution GPS. Are there maybe even remnants of the limestone [William Edmondson] carved under the surface of this basketball court?"
The plan is for this study to also help create an app where people can see a historically accurate 3-D model of the home and studio. The 3-D model will be intended to look the same as before the home was demolished in the 1950s, a few years after Edmondson's death.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
