Lotz House in Franklin, TN: Battle History, Tours, Tickets and Parking (2026)

Photo above: the Lotz House on Columbia Avenue in Franklin, September 2014. Photo: Skye Marthaler, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

The Lotz House is a few blocks south of Main Street on Columbia Avenue, and the cannonball scars and bloodstains from November 30, 1864 are still in its floors. Here's what the house is, what the tours cost, where to park and how to fit it into a day downtown with the Carter House and Carnton.

What is the Lotz House in Franklin, TN?

The Lotz House is a museum in the 1858 home of Johann Albert Lotz, a German immigrant, master carpenter and piano maker. Lotz bought 5 acres in Franklin in 1855, finished the house three years later and used it as a showroom for his woodwork. Per Visit Franklin, the house helped him land a commission carving the mantels and woodwork in Franklin's downtown courthouse.

Inside are three carved fireplace mantels, a free-floating black walnut staircase and an upside-down piano leg used as the newel post. The museum also shows period antiques, relics picked up off the battlefield and more than a dozen original works by Lotz's daughter Matilda, who grew up to be a portrait artist.

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

The Battle of Franklin was fought right outside the Lotz House on November 30, 1864. As the fighting started, Johann Lotz took his family across Columbia Avenue to the brick Carter House, and they waited it out in the Carter family's basement, per the Lotz House and Visit Franklin. The whole family survived.

The house took cannon fire. In what's now the gift shop, you can see where a cannonball burned an imprint into the wooden floor, and upstairs you can see the flooring that was repaired after a shot tore through the main bedroom. After the battle the Lotz House served as a field hospital for both sides, and the bloodstains on the floors are part of the tour.

Matilda Lotz turned six the day before the battle. The family never fully recovered after the war and moved west. Lotz family members in California have since brought pieces back to the house, including a table Johann built and took with him when they left Franklin, and Matilda's own shoes, toy and mittens.

How many people died in the Battle of Franklin?

The National Park Service estimates 9,933 casualties at Franklin: 7,300 Confederate and 2,633 Union. Casualties count the wounded, captured and missing along with the dead, so fewer men were killed than that total.

Confederate Gen. John Bell Hood made a frontal attack late that afternoon on Union Maj. Gen. John Schofield's army, which held earthworks built in 1863 on the town's southern edge. The Union line held, and by nightfall six Confederate generals were dead or mortally wounded. The Park Service records Franklin as a Union victory, and Hood's army pressed on toward Nashville afterward.

What tours does the Lotz House offer, and how much are tickets?

The standard guided house tour is booked online through the museum's Eventbrite page, which lists one price, $19.21, as of November 3, 2026, with refunds up to 7 days before your tour. Every other tour needs a reservation by phone at 615-790-7190 or by email at [email protected]. Here's what the Lotz House posts.

When is the Lotz House open?

The Lotz House is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., as of November 2026. The museum doesn't post holiday closures, so call 615-790-7190 before you go on a holiday weekend.

Where do you park for the Lotz House?

The Lotz House doesn't post parking details, so call the museum if you need a spot close to the door. Downtown, the City of Franklin runs two free garages, on 2nd Avenue South and 4th Avenue South, with 300 spaces each and no time limit, as of November 2026.

On-street parking downtown is free with a two-hour limit, enforced from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and not on weekends or city holidays. The city's page has a live garage availability map, so check it before you drive in on a Saturday.

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

Start at the Lotz House, walk across Columbia Avenue to the Carter House, have lunch on Main Street, then drive about 2 miles to Carnton for the afternoon. The Battle of Franklin Trust runs the Carter House and Carnton and sells its own tickets, separate from the Lotz House. Both Trust sites start their last guided tour at 4 p.m.

Both Trust sites have free parking and close on New Year's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. On a Sunday, the Carter House opens an hour before the Lotz House, so start there. The Trust's tickets page sells the $28 combination ticket online only, through December 31, 2026, and says tickets are nonrefundable. Carnton is about a 9-minute drive from the Lotz House with no traffic, and it sits next to the free Eastern Flank Battlefield Park if you want a walk after the tour.

Main Street is a few blocks north, so lunch downtown is an easy break between the Carter House and Carnton. 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. My things to do in Franklin guide covers the parks, the Franklin Theatre and the rest of downtown.

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

Every November 30, the Lotz House lights luminaries to honor the battle's casualties, which the museum puts at about 10,000. On November 30, 2026, the Battle of Franklin Trust also runs 60-minute anniversary night tours of the Carter House and Carnton at 7 and 8 p.m., $30 a person, bought online ahead of time. The Trust says not to book both houses the same night, because there isn't time to get from one to the other.

The Lotz House lists the women's history tours at 6 p.m. on its date list and a 6:30 p.m. start in the tour description, so confirm the time when you book. Dickens is the one my wife, my kids and I never miss. We walk the booths and catch the performances, and the whole street feels like it's straight out of a movie. If you're visiting in December, a Saturday ghost tour on December 12 puts you a few blocks from Dickens the same day. The rest of the season is on my Christmas in Franklin page.

Can you buy a historic home near the Lotz House?

Yes, older homes come up for sale around downtown Franklin, and the ones inside a local historic district come with design review. The Lotz House, the Carter House and Carnton 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 are reviewed under the Franklin Historic District Design Guidelines.

That review changes what you can do to a house after you buy it, so it's worth knowing before you write an offer. My downtown Franklin and historic homes guide walks through the overlay and shows what's listed now. For the day-to-day picture, see living in Franklin, TN.

If Franklin's on your list, tell me what you want close to the house and I'll help you narrow it down to the right part of town. Call or text me at 615-392-1186, or start with my Franklin guide.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Lotz House?

The Lotz House is at 1111 Columbia Avenue, Franklin, TN 37064, across the street from the Carter House and a few blocks south of Main Street. The museum's phone number is 615-790-7190.

What happened at the Lotz House?

The Battle of Franklin was fought right outside the Lotz House on November 30, 1864. The Lotz family sheltered in the Carter House basement across the street and survived. The house took cannon fire, then served as a field hospital for both sides, and the cannonball scars and bloodstains are still visible.

How many people died in the Battle of Franklin?

The National Park Service estimates 9,933 casualties at Franklin: 7,300 Confederate and 2,633 Union. Casualties count the wounded, captured and missing along with the dead, so fewer men were killed than that total.

How much are Lotz House tickets?

The guided house tour is $19.21 on the museum's Eventbrite page as of November 3, 2026. The Ghost Tour is $30 for adults and $12 for kids, and the Women's History and Walking Battlefield tours are $25 for adults.

When is the Lotz House open?

The Lotz House is open Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., as of November 2026.

Do Battle of Franklin Trust tickets cover the Lotz House?

No. The Lotz House sells its own tour tickets. The Battle of Franklin Trust sells tickets for its own sites, the Carter House, Carnton and Rippa Villa in Spring Hill.

Is the Lotz House haunted?

The Lotz House runs a 90-minute evening Ghost Tour built on the museum's stories of unexplained happenings in the house. The documented history is the battle damage, the bloodstains from its time as a field hospital and the Lotz family's night in the Carter House basement.