Ornamental Music and Southern Belles at the Nashville Female Academy, 1816–1861

The Nashville Female Academy was organized in the early days of the city’s existence, and it quickly rose to become one of the most respected female schools in the South. As early as 1830 the academy’s influence extended well beyond the Nashville city limits, and it helped to foster the educational and artistic life of the city. By the advent of the Civil War, when education throughout the South was thrown into upheaval, the Nashville Female Academy was considered one of “three regionally outstanding educational institutions” in the city, along with the University of Nashville and Shelby Medical College.¹ Although the academy never fully reopened following the conflict, it left an indelible mark on the history and formation of education and cultural life in the heart of Tennessee and across the region. The high quality of its music department and the level of training students received in performance and musicianship were further developed by schools such as Ward’s Seminary, which carried on female education in Nashville during the postbellum era.

The academy’s location in Nashville was an important part of its prestige and success. The city was first established in 1780, when it was christened “Nashborough” by James Robertson and his men.² During the early years of the nineteenth century, Nashville experienced great growth in size and economic status, and the city emerged as “not only [a] typical [city] but one of the most important centres [sic] of western life during that period.”³ It was one of the first cities to be founded in what became the state of Tennessee, and its location on the Cumberland River became a major source of economic growth and regional influence when the first steamboats began plying the river in 1819.⁴ Because of its position as a commercial center in what was then considered the West, the economic, social, and educational establishments of Nashville were admired and emulated by other cities across the region, and its inhabitants embraced various artistic and intellectual pursuits. Jesse Burt agrees with this observation, noting that “contemporary sources show a strong community appreciation of education, organized religion, reading, good conversation, good manners, and worthy aspiration.”⁵

Education had long been an important part of Nashville’s culture, beginning with the very first settlers, and the city’s first organized school, Davidson Academy, was founded in 1785.⁶ By 1815 the Belmont Domestic Academy already provided training for female students, and the next year the Nashville Female Academy was organized.⁷ Another integral part of Nashville life was its artistic and musical activity, which included the establishment of several musical academies and a musical society during the first thirty years of the century.⁸ Large numbers of emigrant musicians populated Nashville during the 1830s and 1840s, and many of them contributed greatly to the level of musical activity in the city by offering performances, serving as private instructors, and acting as music teachers at the Female Academy and other schools.⁹ Well before the mid-nineteenth century, Nashville had emerged from the wilderness to become a center of civilization and culture, and in the 1830s it was even referred to as the “Athens of the South.”¹⁰

Other signs of Nashville’s growing prominence and sophistication included the city’s burgeoning publishing industry and literary activity, which first began near the end of the eighteenth century and had become prominent by 1850.¹¹ In 1854 the publishing industry grew further when the Southern Methodist Publishing House was located in the city, producing books, tracts, and periodicals and drawing national attention to Nashville.¹² Nashville’s central location also continued to be a major contributor to its development, and it soon functioned as a hub of railroad transport in addition to river commerce. Many books and journals printed in the city were circulated throughout the South, causing Nashville to be recognized as a publishing center. Some of the works published were by Nashville residents, such as the female poets Lucy Virginia Smith French (1825–81) and Clara Cole (1807–83), who were quite active...