Exiting the highway, I winded to and fro along a narrow road carved through dense forest, quietly ascending the mountain to its plateau. Alas, a clearing. Civilization emerged in the form of a few buildings and a historical marker proclaiming the site of the University of the South.
At its conception in 1854, ten southern dioceses of the Episcopal church decided against each establishing their own colleges and instead pooled their resources, for the first great university in the South, one to rival even those found in England. Within one year, $400,000 had been raised and the following year a million more would be donated from across the South. The lofty and beautiful site of Sewanee was initially proposed, as the Swanee Mining Company had agreed to convey two 5,000 acre tracts to the project. However, in July of 1858, there was a meeting of the Board of Trustees, presided over by President Rev. James H. Otey and consisting of laymen and clerical trustees from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. There had been some early dispute over the proposed location of the school at Sewanee by the trustees from Alabama, considering the mountain location to be potentially problematic, especially from an economic standpoint. However, after much discussion, the Bishop from Alabama stated, “We have done our duty and the result is against us. Since you will not come down to us from the mountain, I will climb the mountain and join you there.”
At the time before the founding of the university in 1858, the area of Sewanee was valued for its rich coal deposits and was emerging as a summer vacation destination for wealthy Southern planters due to the natural beauty atop a plateau of the Cumberland Mountain and its many natural springs. In particular, a great novelty to the planters was that Sewanee had recently become accessible by way of the Sewanee Railroad, completed through the area in 1854 for shipping coal, nicknamed the “Mountain Goat,” for its steep ascents and descents along the way. The highway would not reach Sewanee until 1922, prior to which the area was accessed by the treacherous, and comparatively slow, Turnpike Road.
Interestingly, the early allure of the area caught the eye of William B. Shapard, Jr. (1829-1896), of Nashville, Tennessee, who purchased a tract of land from Mr. J. B. Hawkins, in July of 1854. It was a meager 4-acre vacation lot, in District 12 of Franklin County, atop the Cumberland Mountain along the Turnpike Road. The land was serviced by a natural spring creek, elevated views and beautiful forests.
William Booker Shapard, Jr., was born in 1829 in Maury County, Tennessee to William Booker Shapard, Sr., and Margery [Childress]. As a youth he attended Nashville University and was admitted to the degree of Bachelors of Arts in 1848. After his schooling, he worked in a bank at Nashville, Tennessee, of which his father was president. Circa 1854, he moved from Nashville to Knoxville, Tennessee, to operate the Farmer’s Bank of Tennessee as president, with his brother-in-law William T. Wheless as cashier. With the outbreak of the war in 1861, William returned to Nashville, Tennessee, and became cashier for his father’s bank on and off until about 1867. In August of 1861, W. B. Shapard, Jr., was elected as Captain of the Militia for the Fifth Ward of Nashville and, as the war progressed, joined the Confederate Army as a Sergeant Major. Late in the war he refugeed to Chambers County, Alabama, in or near LaFayette, where he purchased land. He moved to Opelika, Alabama, circa 1869, and pioneered the first bank there. The Bank of Opelika opened on Tallapoosa Street, later moving locations to Chambers Street. Eventually, Mr. Shapard sold his stock in this bank and returned to Tallapoosa Street to established the Shapard Bank. He was a senior deacon in the Presbyterian church. He was twice married: first to Cordelia Frierson (1831-1879) by whom he had six children: Gardner (1850-1850), Jennie (1853-1876), Lavinia (1854-1916), William III (1857-1888), Mamie “Mary” (1859-1901) and Sallie (1862-1886); Second, he married Ellen Crawford, daughter of Daniel C. Crawford, and they had two children: Ann (1884-1966) and Jeanette (1887-1968). W. B. Shapard, Jr., died of a stroke on August 16, 1896.
Only a few months after his initial land purchase, William B. Shapard, Jr., acquired his first substantial landholding at Sewanee, circa October of 1854, being 640 acres. This land was originally granted to Mr. Richard Sharp, Jr., in May of 1830. However, at the time of his death in 1854, Mr. Sharp’s estate was in significant debt, and the only asset of material value was his land. To satisfy his creditors, on August 7, 1854, the land was placed for public auction at the county courthouse at Winchester. Mr. Joseph Gore, a creditor, purchased the land for $384, and had until October of that year to pay the money else have the land reauctioned. At some point between August and October of that year, Mr. Gore made an arrangement for Mr. William B. Shapard, Jr. to take the land off of his hands for the same bid price. Interestingly, this land not only bordered the small 4-acre tract that Mr. Shapard had purchased earlier, but the Sewanee Railroad ran through a portion of the new tract, greatly adding to its value.
William B. Shapard, Jr’s., final property acquisition at Sewanee came in December of 1855, whereby he purchased 103 acres of land off of Mr. John B. Hawkins of Franklin Co, Tennessee. This property was located southeast of his other property on Cumberland Mountain, and was near Bethels Creek, being a branch of Battle Creek. This was an investment property for Mr. Shapard, as it was well known to hold significant coal deposits.
One of the earliest documented dramas associated with Sewanee concerned Mr. William B. Shapard, Jr., and his family. In the summer of 1855, before the site had been selected for the university, Mr. Shapard had acquired a large tract of land on both sides of the railroad from about the location of the present-day Georgia Avenue to Lake O'Donnell. The family had spent the summer there vacationing and were preparing to return to Nashville.
Their infant daughter, Lavinia Shapard (1854-1916), was sent ahead with her mammy and two additional male slaves whose function was to "brake" the handcar as it descended the 1,000 feet to the town of Cowan to the southwest of Sewanee, towards Winchester. On the way down, the cart was stopped at Slope Wall, where the male servants latched the brakes and hopped off for a last drink at the cool spring there. Suddenly hearing cries of terror, they looked up to see that the chocks had slipped from under the wheels and the handcar was careening down, what was then the steepest railroad in the United States, with mammy and infant helplessly aboard.
With the distraught father leading the way, the Shapard party frantically set out down the tracks, peering over each cliff expecting to see the broken bodies of the nurse and child. They found a trunk with contents strewn on the jagged rocks. They reached the bottom and before their dread gaze was the empty handcar. Had they missed the victims on the way? A short agonizing moment passed before a farmer approached from a nearby cabin and yelled; "You looking for a nurse and baby? They're safe." And so was saved Mr. Shapard’s infant daughter Lavinia and her brave mammy.
This incident profoundly tormented Mr. Shapard. The alure of the modern marvel of trains and vacationing on prestigious mountain tops lost its luster in light of having nearly lost his child in a horrific accident. Only a few months after the event, in February of 1856, Mr. Shapard sold his 644-acre vacation property at Sewanee to his father, William B. Shapard, Sr., of Nashville Tennessee.
 |
| W. B. Shapard, Sr. 1865 |
William Booker Shapard, Sr., (November 5, 1797 – January 19, 1870) spent his youth in Caswell County, North Carolina. At the age of 15, in the spring of 1813, he migrated with his family to Williamson County, Tennessee. Shortly thereafter in October, he joined Capt. William Martin’s Tennessee Militia in the War of 1812, under General Andrew Jackson. William B. Shapard saw action in November of 1813, at the Battles of Tallushatchee and Talladega in Alabama against the Creek Indians. Upon returning home to Tennessee, he joined in business with his father as a commission merchant, living in Williamson, Wilson and Smith counties. In 1820, after his father’s business failed, William moved to Sumner County. In 1822, William migrated to Columbia in Maury County, Tennessee, where he joined a partnership with James Nichol in the merchant business, under the name of “James Nichol, Shapard & Co.” In addition to his business, William was also the Captain of the Columbia Blues, being a state militia unit based in the town of Columbia. In April of 1825, the Columbia Blues marched from Maury County to Nashville to greet General Lafyette who was on tour. Whilst there, William was invited to Lafyette’s Ball where he became engaged to Miss Margery S. Childress.
On December 8, 1825, William B. Shapard married Margery S. Childress in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee. Margery was the sister of Sarah Childress who had married James K. Polk in 1824; being the same James Polk who was admitted to the bar in 1820, elected to represent Maury County in the House of Representatives in 1823, then to the Senate in 1825. He became Governor of the State of Tennessee from 1839-1841 and finally President of the United States from 1845 – 1849. William B. Shapard’s association with the Childress and Polk families advanced him significantly throughout his lifetime via business and social opportunities.
It is evident that, while William and Margery returned to Columbia in Maury County after their wedding, purchasing Town Lot No. 15 as their home, they frequented Nashville often for social and business calls. In 1829, William and his young family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he partnered with H. T. Yeatman as merchants, under the name of “Shapard & Yeatman.” After the firm dissolved by mutual consent in 1832, William carried on the business as a sole proprietor under the name of “Shapard’s.” In 1836, William ran for the office of Sherriff of Nashville. Although he received 481 votes, he was beat out by Campbell receiving 801 votes. In 1836, William opened an Exchange Office, named “W. B. Shapard & Co.,” selling, buying and trading various bank notes, stocks, gold and silver. At this same time, he also operated a mercantile store named “Shapard & Anderson,” with business partner Thomas P. Anderson, which was dissolved in 1846. In 1844, William was an elder of the Second Presbyterian Church of Nashville, and helped erect a new chapel. In 1853, he was listed as the Treasurer of the newly incorporated Nashville Ladies College. On October 2, 1854, W. B. Shapard was affiliated with the Democrat Party and was elected as Mayor of Nashville, receiving 930 votes. He resigned his position on October 26, 1854, securing him the curiosity of being the shortest termed Mayor in the history of Nashville, Tennessee.
During the Civil War, his house in Nashville was occupied by the U. S. Army, the government retaining possession of his home for about five years. W. B. Shapard became the President of the Merchant’s Bank in Nashville, and was associated with numerous fraternal organizations, including: Sir Knights of Nashville Commandery, Knights Templar and Masons. He deeded a portion of his land upon which to build Sewanee University.
He died in 1870 in Nashville Tennessee and is buried in the Old City Cemetery. William B. Shapard was described as, “…not only a devout Christian, but in all relations of life, he was fully merited by his conduct, the appellation of ‘an honest man, the noblest work of God.’ In his intercourse with his fellow-man, he was exceedingly courteous and in disposition affable and sociable. Possessed with a good heart overflowing with kindness, he turned not a deaf ear to the appeals of the needy, but on the contrary, bestowed charity on the right hand and on the left, was continually going about doing good.” He and his wife had nine children: Mary Elizabeth (1825 - 1898), William B. Shapard, Jr. (1829-1896), Martha Jane (1831-1849), Maggie (1833-1840), Henry Childress (1835-1877), Eleanor (1836-1863), Thomas Childress (1838-1864), Margery (1840-1909), and James (b. 1842).
A year after Mr. Shapard acquired the land at Sewanee, the University of the South was officially founded at the site in 1858, with the conveyance of the first of two 5000 acre tracts by the Sewanee Mining Company. It was an incredible start to the University. The second tract, conveyed in 1859, made it (at the time) the largest private campus in the entirety of the United States, however, these two tracts were not fully joined and before any university buildings were to be built the Trustees sought to merge them by acquiring the lands between. One of the most valuable plots of unacquired land was the 644 acres owned by Mr. Shapard, located just south of the proposed main campus.
Bishop Leonidas Polk, was appointed as the Commissioner to acquire additional lands for the University of the South. Bishop Polk (1806-1864) was a colorful historical character. He attended West Point for military training; however, his calling was in the ministry. By 1838, he had become a bishop in the Episcopal church and was implemental in the early development of the University of the South at Sewanee during the late 1850s and early 1860s. Bishop Polk laid the cornerstone of the first building at the University of the South on October 9, 1860. When war came to the South, Bishop Polk was commissioned as a Major General in the Confederate States Army. When asked if he was putting down the Episcopal gown to take up the sword, Bishop Polk replied, “No, Sir, I am buckling the sword over the gown.” Throughout the war he was known as the “fighting Bishop,” and was greatly loved and respected by his men. When he was killed in action on June 14, 1864, it was stated that his loss was the greatest the South ever sustained, second only to Stonewall Jackson’s.
Bishop Polk was second cousin to future United States President, James K. Polk. The familial relation between the Polks and the Shapards were well established and would have made for easy introductions between these two influential men. After steep negotiations, on July 27, 1860, William B. Shapard, Sr., conveyed his 644 acres to the University of the South for the sum of $4,500. And only a few short months later, on October 10, 1860, construction was allowed to commence with the ceremonial laying of a university cornerstone by Bishop Polk.
Tragically only a few months later, the noble aspirations for this grand university were dashed by the outbreak of the Civil War. Construction was halted and what structures did remain were rendered uninhabitable by the marauding Federal troops. Even the massive corner stone was not spared, being blown to bits, in 1863, by Union soldiers. In 1866, after the war, authorities determined to re-establish the University. Despite the South being deeply impoverished by the ravages of war, the will and desire to rebuild was strong. By 1866, while buildings were being constructed on the mountain top, the university was gifted four acres of land in the nearby town of Winchester and a fine brick building capable of holding 200 students. In September of 1866, the University of the South at Winchester officially opened the doors of their divinity and collegiate colleges to nearly 100 students.
Among the small faculty of that first year was Dr. Joseph C. Shapard (M. D.) (1823-1892) who was professor of chemistry and physiology. Dr. Shapard was one of the leading physicians at the town of Winchester, having migrated there in 1862. He was born in 1823 in Rutherford County, Tennessee, being the eldest of ten children born to James Paine Shapard (1801-1850) and Rebecca [Sloss] (1802-1875). As a young man, he came to Winchester where he conducted business merchandizing for his father for two years. At the age of 22 years old, he began the study of medicine, attending lectures at Louisville, and then, in 1859, graduated from the medical department at Vanderbilt University. He came to Franklin County, whereupon he entered the practice of medicine, moving to Winchester in 1862. He married Miss Elvira Clark (1819-1900), of Bedford County, Tennessee in 1846, and they were blessed with seven children. Dr. Shapard was a member of the Episcopal Church and was a staunch democrat. He practiced in Winchester for the entirety of his career and died in 1892.
Over the years, not only did the Shapard family provide the university with land and faculty, there were also numerous family members that attended as students. Circa 1919, David Green Shapard (1899-1955), son of William A. Shapard and Bertha [Baugh], graduated from the University of the South in the College of Arts and Sciences and was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. In 1929, Robert Paine Shapard, Jr. (1908-1994), son of Robert Paine Shapard, Sr., and Katherine [Morris], graduated from the University of the South, receiving a Bachelor’s of Science degree and was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. Evander Simpson Shapard (1925-1968) graduated in 1943 from the Sewanee Military Academy, that was part of the University of the South from 1908-1971. Robert Paine Shapard III (1931-2019) graduated in 1949 from the Sewanee Military Academy and joined the U.S. Air Force. Note that the matriculation records have not been searched past the 1950s, thus is likely that more Shapards could be added to this list.
Nearly a hundred years would pass, after W. B. Shapard’s large land conveyance, before the next great influence of the Shapard family upon the University of the South. In 1946, Mrs. Katherine [Morris] Shapard (1874-1965) and her son R.P. Shapard, Jr., (1908-1994) (the great-nephew of W. B. Shapard, Sr.) of Griffin, Georgia, generously established the Shapard Fund, without specifying the use to which the money should be put by the University. The Griffin Georgia Shapards had become affluent due to their numerous hosiery and knitting mills they had founded in the 1910s and 1920s, and had become a pillar for philanthropy. Robert Paine Shapard, Jr., had attended the University of the South as a student, circa 1925, and had carried an appreciation for the school throughout his life. After his father passed away in 1933, Robert Jr., became president of the Spaulding Knitting Mills, a company his father founded in 1921. By 1940, the Spaulding Knitting Mills employed 625 people and produced 25,000 pairs of hosiery weekly. Robert Jr., and his mother, Katherine [Morris] Shapard added to the Shapard Fund annually, initially speculating that it would be used for the construction of a new stone dormitory to be named “Shapard Hall”. However, in 1954, at the urging of the University, the Shapard family decided to use the fund towards completing All Saints Chapel – which had remained unfinished for half a century. The bell tower and chapel renovation cost $1,200,000, and the Shapard Fund of $125,000 was the largest single donation to the
At the chapel’s ground level, the stairs to Shapard tower begin as a tight spiral around a central metal post. The steps are grated metal and you never lose sight of the ground below the higher you climb. After a short run, the spiral stair gives way to “z” staggered stair ways, similar to a fire escape on the outside of a brick New York building. There is no heating in the tower so the winter often coats the steps in ice, making it highly treacherous to climb.
Upon reaching the bells, the largest ones are the first to greet the climber. They are impressively massive, have a respectable patina from age and are not particularly decorative, except for the top which have a series of metal cast faces. One of the bells is just an arm’s length away from the stairway, and the clapper could be wrung by hand if one dared to reach out and over the railing. The higher you ascend, the smaller the bells become – 56 in total – making it the second most splendorous carillon in the whole of the United States. The playing cabin above the bells is a small room approximately 10 feet by 10 feet, half of which is occupied by a curious piano-like instrument that plays the bells through wooden keys attached to wire cables that swing the clappers. The bells were made in France by the Paccard Foundry and are expected to ring true to tone for the next 300 years. The largest bell weighs 7,500 lbs. and the smallest just 22 lbs - in total all the bells combined weigh 23 tons.
The exterior of Shapard Tower is beautiful to behold. It is designed in a collegiate gothic revival style, inspired by the architecture of old British universities. The facade is made mostly of local Tennessee sandstone with towering arched windows and is in harmony with the aesthetics and materials of the older chapel, begun in 1904, to which it is attached. The tower and carillon maintenance is made possible through an endowment created by another Shapard benefactor - Lewis H. Hill III and his wife, Sally Shapard Hill of Tampa, Florida.
Like a moth to a flame, to what has summoned many a Shapard over the last 60 years, I found myself at the base of the grand gothic stairway…looking skyward, scribed in solid stone over the exterior entrance are the words “Shapard Tower.” My heart filled with pride. May God bless the many Shapard’s over the generations who have played, and continue to play, a part in the history of the University of the South!
P.S. It may be of great interest to future Shapard historians to know that the university archives holds an enormous collection of Shapard family records...well over 30 boxes filled with historical documents, photographs and correspondence that was collected and donated by family members from across America ahead of the 2004 Shapard family reunion. We are in great appreciation to the University of the South for housing and preserving these documents for our future.
