General Notes

 DENNY PORTERFIELD HADLEY, son of Joshua and Hannah (Holmes) Hadley, was born 17 June (or July) 1797, died 9/19 May 1872, and is buried in the Hadley Cemetery, Brentwood, Tennessee (Calendar Road, off Wilson Pike).
     On 15 January 1821, he married Elizabeth Clemons Smith, born 23 Jan 1800 in Brentwood, Tennessee, and died on 19 September 1876.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Alexander and Sarah Jane (Leeper) Smith.
     Denny was named in honor of Capt. Denny Porterfield, a comrade in arms of his father, Joshua. He was known as "Captain". The reason is not clear. No record of military service is known. He was 64 years old at the beginning of the Civil War. He had three sons in the Confederate armies.
     Denny's home, "Hadleywood", built in 1840, was still (1962) a show place in 1962. His colonial mansion has been re-named "Green Pastures" and is located 10 miles south of Nashville.
     Denny's will (Vol. 15, page 318-319), Williamson County, Tennessee, was probated in June 1872. One half of his estate was left to his son Ferdinand, the other half to his grandchildren Lizzie and John Clack. His wife's will (Vol. 16, page 487) left her property to her son Denny Porterfield. Jr.

From a newspaper article:

"Historic Green Pastures Bought by William Hail.

     Green Pastures, historic former home of Mrs. Mason Houghland and the late M. Houghland, 10 miles south of Nashville, has been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. William D. Hail.
     Hail said today he expects to occupy the antebellum Georgian residence "around Christmas'. He said the transaction did not include the furnishings.
     Mrs. Houghland vacated the home several months ago and moved to a residence on Belle Meade Blvd. Her husband died last April 24.
     The former Hail home at 520 Belle Meade Blvd, has been acquired by DeWitt Thompson.
Hail, as was Mr. Houghland, is an ardent horseman. His grandfather, the late W. W. Darden, a noted breeder of thoroughbreds, lived at Toplands, on Franklin Road, not far from Green Pastures.
      The new owner is active both in the Hillsboro Hounds, and the Iroquois Memorial Steeplechase, both of these major interests of Mr. Houghland.
    Green Pastures is in the Brentwood area off Highway 31-W, reached by a half-mile-long private access road. The transaction includes 110 acres in addition to the 119 year-old residence built by Ferdinand Hadley, its bricks made by slaves in kilns on the premises.
    Shortly before the Battle of Nashville in December, 1864, the troops of Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest encamped in the sweeping fields nearby and the house became Forrest's headquarters. After the battle, the place was occupied by Federal forces.
     The Houghlands acquired the property in 1930, and have maintained it in the grand style for which it was intended. Over the years, it became a Middle Tennessee 'showplace', opened each year for the statewide pilgrimages sponsored annually by the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities.

From Ireland

     The estate's wrought iron entrance gate came from Ireland's Killarney Castle, and the Houghlands placed in the center of the formal garden a sundial which originally belonged to Anne Boleyn, ill-fated wife of Henry VIII. Statutes of Italian marble also mark the garden.
    Green Pastures is of non-corrupted Georgian architecture with no white columns or porch. When the Houghlands enlarged the house, they painstakingly kept the same "feel" of the original - even to the vintage brick, matching those made by the slaves of prosperous planter Hadley.'
     (Note: The writer of this article was mistaken as to Ferdinand being the builder. Ferdinand Columbus Hadley was a son of Denny Porterfield Hadley. He was born in 1840, the year the house was built.)