In 2002, country singer Barbara Mandrell put her custom log cabin home, located off Whites Creek Pike in Joelton, Tennessee, up for auction. Made from hand-selected timber that came from Montana, it was once the largest log home in the United States. It changed hands several times after the auction, eventually being turned into a tourist attraction from 2010 until 2019. After closing the tourist attraction, the property fell into disrepair. In 2022, it was purchased for $6 million by Clinton Holcomb, a developer from Buffalo, New York. He reopened the mansion earlier this year as an event venue. More Local Living News
Property with a History
As a tourist attraction and concert venue, there were tours of the home, a restaurant, a winery, shop, a distillery, an outdoor stage, and a bed and breakfast style inn. For a while it was a fun place to go for a meal and a glass of wine. It was a place to get away from it all in what felt like the country, but was just outside of Nashville. And then, just as the pandemic arrived, all of that ceased. Holcomb wants to bring the property back to life.
“It’s not just a property — it’s history,” Holcomb told NFocus Magazine…’We didn’t really renovate it…What we did was restore it. And there’s a difference, right?’ Many of the details unique to the house are still there, adding to its mystique. For example, in the great room, guests including Oprah, John Stamos, and Chuck Norris have signed an exposed support post under a balcony. In an upstairs room designed as an ice cream parlor for Mandrell’s kids, family members’ names are listed on the wall in classic ’80s neon colors.“
Although Holcomb didn’t purchase the bed and breakfast — now known as The Grove at Whites Creek — or the area that once housed the restaurant, distillery and winery, he did buy the unique 30,000-square-foot log home, designed in 1988 by the Nashville architectural firm then known as Tuck Hinton, along with 118 acres of surrounding land. He hopes to eventually build 135 cabins on the property to expand operations. It is currently an event space for weddings, parties, and corporate retreats.
“I was looking for something that had history, because I like history,” Holcomb told MainStreet Nashville. “I was being kind of choosy to find the right hospitality property that had some history. Fontanel came along and I said, that’s it. That’s the place. It’s one of a kind. There’s really nothing like it.”
Restoring and Updating the Property
Once he bought the property, he discovered that it needed a lot of tender loving care, but it also had a lot of history that he wanted to preserve and accentuate without changing too much by modernizing it.
In addition to structural updates, according to the NFocus article, Holcomb has made some aesthetic changes, giving the home a more modern feel while keeping its one-of-a-kind style. For example, “when visitors first enter the foyer of the home, they’ll find lots of plants designed to bring the outside in. And on the back wall, they’ll see an impressionist mural by well-known artist Telicia Lee. It depicts an outdoor scene with a body of water, rolling hills and birds — as if reflecting what’s just beyond the doors of the mansion.”
Enjoy a Tour and Bridgerton Style High Tea
The best way to see the home and enjoy its ambiance is to go to one of their Bridgerton-themed afternoon teas. The tea experience takes place on select Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Reservations are required. The cost is $85 per person.
The high tea event includes a carefully curated selection of fine teas, and, of course, English Breakfast tea; savory delights including classic cucumber sandwiches, dill beef tea sandwiches, and petite quiche; and sweet indulgences like scones and croissants served with organic strawberry jam and whipped butter cream, as well as assorted tarts, macarons, and truffles. It is suggested that guests dress in formal afternoon attire – with regency fashion highly encouraged – to participate. No jeans, shorts or flip flops will be accepted. Lady Whistledown would be appalled by the very thought of them, not to mention Queen Charlotte!
After tea, guests can take a tour of the mansion or choose to enjoy additional tea in the gardens or by the waterfall and koi pond in the backyard. Requests for a tour or special tea service on the property can be made by contacting the facility here. Beyond the mansion, nature lovers can explore the estate’s trails and Conservation Greenway.
Plenty of Event Space
There is lots to see in the home. The glassed-in pool area has been given an ethereal look with billowy curtains, and can now accommodate up to 200 people for a seated dinner. And the old grill located by the pool once again works, so it can be used for a casual barbecue themed party or to make something more elegant like steak.
“If you want to have little skewers,” Holcomb told NFocus, “you can literally have a chef here cooking skewers and pulling them right off of Barbara Mandrell’s grill. It’s just very cool.”
Mandrell’s 3,000 square foot primary suite has been transformed into a dreamy place for a bride and her bridesmaids to get ready before the wedding. There is lots of space for doing hair and make-up, as well as relaxing with a glass of champagne before the big event.
An article in Parade magazine describes the house as having “rising wood-beam ceilings, open gathering spaces, multiple kitchens, a pool that doubles as a dance floor beneath a glass atrium, and an indoor shooting range. Mandrell ensured her home was a hostess’s haven and unlike any other home in Nashville.”
Holcomb noted in the MainStreet Nashville story that he knew that he had to find a way to balance the updating and the nostalgia. “If you don’t capture that, people are going to be like, you missed it.”
The “Fontanel” comes from the soft spot on the back of a baby’s head because Mandrell considered her home her family’s “soft spot.”
A Bit About Barbara Mandrell and Her Home
Barbara Mandrell is a true legend in country music history. According to the Fontanel Mansion website, her big break came in 1969 when she signed with Columbia Records and released her debut single, “Once a Day.” The song was an immediate hit, reaching the top of the Billboard country music charts and establishing Mandrell as a rising star. Over the next two decades, she would go on to become one of the most celebrated and awarded artists in country music, amassing a string of chart-topping hits and prestigious accolades.
After her children grew up, she and her husband decided to downsize. The home was first purchased in 2002 by two music executives who manage such recording artists as Alabama, Big and Rich, and Gretchen Wilson. They purchased the house to use as a location for parties, TV productions, video shoots, concerts, and special events.
Saved from Being Torn Down
Until Holcomb reopened the space, there was a lot of fear about what would happen to the historic treasure. It very well could have been torn down.
“A few more years and it probably would have had to have been torn down,” Holcomb shared with Mainstreet Nashville, “which would have been a travesty.”
Fontanel Mansion is located at 4225 Whites Creek Pike just outside of Nashville, Tennessee in the Joelton area. More information is available by checking out the website at https://fontanelestate.com/ or on its Facebook or Instagram pages. To book an event or visit, call (615) 447-8252, or email sales@fontanelestate.com.
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