Carter House in Franklin, TN: Tours, Tickets, Tod Carter, the Farm Office and Battle History (2026)

Header photo: Hal Jespersen, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Quick answer (as of November 2026) The Carter House is the brick farmhouse Fountain Branch Carter built in 1830 on the south edge of Franklin, TN. The Battle of Franklin was fought around it on November 30, 1864, while the Carter family sheltered in the basement, and its farm office still carries the bullet holes. It's a Tennessee Historical Commission state-owned historic site run by the Battle of Franklin Trust, with the visitor entrance and free parking at 125 West Fowlkes Street. It's open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the last guided tour at 4 p.m. The 60-minute Classic House Tour is $22 for adults and $14 for ages 6 to 15.

The Carter farm office and smokehouse took more than a thousand bullet and shrapnel holes on November 30, 1864, and the family's son, Tod Carter, was shot on his own family's land and died inside the house two days later. For the visit itself, the Trust sells seven different tickets for the Carter House, closes it on five holidays and is still building its new Harper Center visitor center. The Lotz House is across the street and Carnton is about 10 minutes away by car, so all three fit in one day.

What is the Carter House in Franklin, TN?

The Carter House is a historic house museum in Franklin, Williamson County, owned by the State of Tennessee and run for the state by the Battle of Franklin Trust. Fountain Branch Carter married Mary Atkinson, known as Polly, in 1823, and around 1830 they built a one-and-a-half-story brick house just south of Franklin, per the Trust's history of the Carter House. The Tennessee Historical Commission dates it to 1830 and describes it as a Federal Period house that three generations of the Carter family lived in.

The Carters had twelve children, and eight reached adulthood. Fountain had already run a business in town, and in twenty years the farm grew from 19 acres to 288. He added a cotton gin in the early 1850s, which raised the farm's value and output. Polly died in 1852.

The Carter House is a National Historic Landmark, one of 29 in Tennessee, per the Commission. Fountain's son Moscow Carter sold the house and land in 1896. The State of Tennessee bought it in 1951 and opened it to the public in 1953, and the Commission notes it had been slated to be torn down for a gas station. The Trust also runs Carnton in Franklin and Rippa Villa in Spring Hill.

What happened at the Carter House during the Battle of Franklin?

The Carter House stood at the center of some of the heaviest fighting in the Battle of Franklin. Before daybreak on November 30, 1864, Federal Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox woke the Carter family, took over the house and made the parlor his headquarters, per the Trust. The battle began at 4 p.m., when 20,000 Confederates attacked a similar number of entrenched Federals.

The Carter family, a neighboring family and several of the people the Carters enslaved took refuge in the north room of the basement while the battle went on around the house. The Lotz House across Columbia Avenue says its family, the Lotzes, waited out the battle in that basement. By the morning of December 1, bullets had ravaged the house and cannon fire had splintered parts of the roof, and the Historical Commission counts some 13 Confederate charges east and south of the house.

The National Park Service estimates 9,933 casualties at Franklin: 7,300 Confederate and 2,633 Union. That count includes the wounded, captured and missing along with the dead. Six Confederate generals were dead or mortally wounded, and the Park Service records Franklin as a Union victory.

Who was Tod Carter?

Tod Carter was one of Fountain Carter's sons and a captain in the Confederate army who'd been away from Franklin for much of the war. He was mortally wounded on his own family's property during the Battle of Franklin and died in the Carter House on December 2, 1864, per the Tennessee Historical Commission. The Trust lists him with his brothers Moscow, James and Francis.

Why is the Carter farm office covered in bullet holes?

Preservationists recognize the Carter farm office and brick smokehouse as the two most heavily damaged Civil War buildings still standing, per the Tennessee Historical Commission. Between them they carry more than a thousand bullet and shrapnel holes. The 90-minute Extended Tour covers the house and grounds with a guide.

Who was enslaved at the Carter House?

By 1860, Fountain Branch Carter enslaved 28 people on the Carter farm, per the Battle of Franklin Trust. The Trust's Slavery in America page says that put him among 98 people in Williamson County who held between 20 and 30 people in slavery, and in the top 11% of slaveholders in Tennessee.

The Trust names 11 people enslaved at the Carter House on its Stories of the Enslaved page, and several of them were one family. Sarah Edwards Carter Avery was born into slavery on December 5, 1855, to Jack and Calfurnia Carter, an enslaved couple owned by Fountain Carter. The Trust's biography of her says the family most likely huddled in the cellar during the battle. In late 1865, Moscow Carter's journal lists Jack among the potato diggers and cotton pickers. Calfurnia died in 1902 and is buried in Toussaint L'Ouverture Cemetery in Franklin. Sarah later lived in Denver and in Portland, Oregon, and died in 1945.

The Trust's Slavery & the Enslaved Tour at the Carter House covers slavery as an institution and the specific people enslaved there: 90 minutes, 10 a.m. Monday to Saturday, $29. Through its Enslaved Project, the Trust hopes in the longer term to represent all 28 people enslaved on the Carter farm, along with those at Carnton and Rippa Villa.

How much are Carter House tickets, and what tours are offered?

The Classic House Tour is the standard visit: 60 minutes, $22 for adults and $14 for ages 6 to 15, with tours leaving about every 30 to 40 minutes based on walk-ins. You get your tour time when you arrive, and you can buy tickets on site or on the Trust's Carter House page. Prebought Classic House Tour tickets don't have to be used the day you buy them. Here's every ticket the Trust offers for the Carter House, as of November 2026.

Arrive 15 minutes early for the Extended, Slavery & the Enslaved and All Men Are Created Equal tours, and check in at the front desk. The current combination price is $28, per the Trust's tickets page, and you may still see an older $27 offer that ran through October 31. Walk-ins are always welcome, a 30 to 40 minute wait can happen, and tickets are nonrefundable. Rippa Villa is $10 for a classic house tour through December 31, 2026, and my things to do in Spring Hill guide covers it.

For photos inside the house, the Trust sells a 45-minute slot from 8:30 to 9:15 a.m., Monday to Saturday, for $50. It's limited to three people a day and has to be bought online at least 24 hours ahead.

When is the Carter House open?

The Carter House is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., as of November 2026, and the last guided tour starts at 4 p.m. It closes on New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This season, that means it's closed Thursday, November 26, Thursday, December 24, Friday, December 25, and Friday, January 1, 2027.

The grounds close at 5 p.m. and open at 9 a.m. (10 a.m. on Sunday). The Carter House phone number is 615-791-1861.

Where is the Carter House, and where do you park?

The Carter House visitor entrance and free parking are at 125 West Fowlkes Street, Franklin, TN 37064, per the Trust's directions. The state lists the house itself at 1140 Columbia Avenue, the street it faces. From I-65, take exit 65 and drive west on Highway 96 (Murfreesboro Road) for 2.3 miles, turn left on Church Street, go straight through the next two stop signs, turn left at the first light onto Columbia Avenue, then turn right onto West Fowlkes Street. The parking lot entrance is on your left.

The Carter House has handicap parking and a curbside drop-off spot. The visitor center is wheelchair accessible and lends standard wheelchairs free. The house takes six steps to reach the first floor, and the tour goes down seven more into the basement, so ask for the companion guide with photos of every area if steps are a problem. Leashed dogs are welcome on the grounds but not inside the buildings.

Is the Harper Center at the Carter House open?

Not yet, as of November 2026. The Harper Center & Museum is a new visitor center under construction at the Carter House State Historic Site, built through the Tennessee Historical Commission and the Tennessee General Assembly, per the Trust. It'll hold orientation space and a museum, and the Trust says the new exhibit's theme will be All Men Are Created Equal. Every All Men Are Created Equal Tour ticket helps pay for that exhibit and museum.

The Franklin Civil War Round Table plans to start meeting at the Harper Center after the New Year. Until it opens, you check in at the current Carter House visitor center.

What's happening at the Carter House in November and December 2026?

On Monday, November 30, 2026, the battle's 162nd anniversary, the Trust runs 60-minute night tours at the Carter House and Carnton at 7 and 8 p.m., $30 a person, focused on what happened at each house that evening. Groups are capped at 20, tickets have to be bought online ahead of time, and children under 6 aren't permitted. The Trust asks you not to book both houses the same night, since there isn't time to get from one to the other.

Call 615-794-0903 before you plan around a Round Table meeting to make sure there's room. The rest of the holiday season downtown is on my Christmas in Franklin page.

How do you see the Carter House, the Lotz House and Carnton in one day?

Start at the Lotz House at 9 a.m., walk across Columbia Avenue to the Carter House, have lunch downtown, then drive about 2.3 miles (about 10 minutes without traffic) to Carnton for the afternoon. If you want a battlefield tour, the Carter House Battlefield Tour leaves at 11 a.m. every day but Sunday, so it fits right after the Lotz House. The $28 combination ticket covers house tours at both Trust sites in Franklin, and the Lotz House sells its own tickets.

On a Sunday, flip the order at the start: the Carter House opens at 10 a.m. and the Lotz House at 11 a.m. To drive from the Carter House to Carnton, the Trust's route is right out of the lot, right on Columbia Avenue, left on Cleburne Street, straight at the first stop sign, right at the second onto Lewisburg Avenue, then the second right after Heath Place onto Eastern Flank Circle. Eastern Flank Circle is one-way, so you'll pass the exit before you reach the entrance. My Carnton guide and Lotz House guide have each stop's tours and prices, and the free parks in town are in my things to do in Franklin guide.

The Carter House is about 9 miles and 15 minutes up the road from my neighborhood, Canterbury in Thompson's Station. If you're touring Franklin's history because you're thinking about moving here, DM me, text or call 615-392-1186 and tell me what you want close to the house. I'll help you sort out which parts of town fit.

Can you buy a home near the Carter House?

Homes come up for sale all around downtown Franklin, and the older ones near the Carter House come with one extra step worth knowing about before you write an offer. The Carter House, Carnton and the Lotz House are local landmarks inside Franklin's Historic Preservation Overlay, the same zoning overlay that covers the city's seven local historic districts. Inside the overlay, new construction, additions and alterations go through design review under the Franklin Historic District Design Guidelines.

My downtown Franklin and historic homes guide walks through the overlay and shows what's listed now. For the rest of the city, start with my Franklin guide. Franklin has exactly what you'd want out of a small city, with the community events and a small-town feel that's still there.

If Franklin's on your list, DM me, text or call 615-392-1186.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Carter House?

The Carter House visitor entrance and free parking are at 125 West Fowlkes Street, Franklin, TN 37064, in Williamson County, and the state lists the house itself at 1140 Columbia Avenue. It's across Columbia Avenue from the Lotz House, and the phone number is 615-791-1861.

How long is the Carter House tour?

The Classic House Tour at the Carter House is 60 minutes, as of November 2026. The Extended, Battlefield, Slavery & the Enslaved and All Men Are Created Equal tours run 90 minutes each.

How much are Carter House tickets?

The Classic House Tour is $22 for adults and $14 for ages 6 to 15, as of November 2026. The 90-minute tours are $29, the online-only combination ticket for the Carter House and Carnton is $28 through December 31, 2026, and the Tennessee Campaign Ticket for all three Trust sites is $40. Tickets are nonrefundable.

Who owns the Carter House?

The State of Tennessee owns the Carter House. It's a Tennessee Historical Commission state-owned historic site, and the Battle of Franklin Trust runs it for the state. The state bought the house in 1951 and opened it to the public in 1953.

Where did Tod Carter die?

Tod Carter died in the Carter House on December 2, 1864. He was a captain in the Confederate army and was mortally wounded on his own family's property during the Battle of Franklin, per the Tennessee Historical Commission.

Does the Carter House do ghost tours?

No. The Battle of Franklin Trust says its programming does not include weddings, concerts, tea parties or ghost tours, and its early-morning photography slots aren't for paranormal investigation. The documented history is the Carter family in the basement, Tod Carter and the bullet-scarred farm office and smokehouse.