Editing Belle Meade, Tennessee (section)

==History==
The city of {{convert|3.1|sqmi|km2}} takes its name from [[Belle Meade Plantation]], which once encompassed {{convert|5,300 |acres|ha}}.<ref name="Nashville Scene 2014">{{cite web | title=In a new project, Belle Meade Plantation excavates its history of slavery - and relations between its black and white residents | website=Nashville Scene | date=February 13, 2014 | url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13052559/in-a-new-project-belle-meade-plantation-excavates-its-history-of-slavery-and-relations-between-its-black-and-white-residents | access-date=June 19, 2018}}</ref> It was founded by planter [[John Harding (Southern planter)|John Harding]] and inherited at 1,200 acres by his son, [[William Giles Harding]]. Before the Civil War, the younger Harding more than doubled the property and built a new mansion, with the labor of the 136 enslaved African people.

His descendants founded the Belle Meade Country Club here in 1901.<ref name="nashsceneblackout">{{cite news |last1=Pulle |first1=Matt |title=Black Out |url=https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/article/13016410/black-out |access-date=June 15, 2018 |work=Nashville Scene |date=August 7, 2008}}</ref><!-- really? on what part of the property? -->

Because of debt, the trustee of the Belle Meade Estate sold the mansion and 2,200 acres in May 1906 to [[Jacob McGavock Dickinson]], the general counsel of the [[Illinois Central Railroad]].<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=04000675}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Belle Meade Golf Links Subdivision Historic District |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|access-date=June 15, 2018}} With {{NRHP url|id=04000675|photos=y|title=accompanying pictures}}</ref> He later served as the United States Secretary of War from 1909 to 1911.

In 1906 he co-founded the Belle Meade Land Company with J. M. Overton, [[Stuyvesant Fish]], [[James Theodore Harahan]], and J. C. Welling.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/> They hired [[Ossian Cole Simonds]] to design the community.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/> In 1910 [[Luke Lea (American politician, born 1879)|Luke Lea]], publisher of ''[[The Tennessean]]''; [[Telfair Hodgson Jr.]] (the treasurer of [[Sewanee: The University of the South]]); and David Shepherd bought Belle Mead Company. They began the development of Belle Meade's main streets, including Jackson Boulevard and Belle Meade Boulevard.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/> Meanwhile, Johnson Bransford built Deer Park, Berkley Hills, Reservoir Hill, and the Belle Meade Golf Links.<ref name="nrhpdoc"/>

Belle Meade was absorbed into the [[metropolitan government]] of Nashville-Davidson County in 1963, but it retained its independent city status. Residents pay taxes both to the Metro government and to the City of Belle Meade.<ref name="Nashville 1962">{{cite web | author=Nashville | title=Nashville > Government > History of Metro | website=Nashville > Home | date=June 28, 1962 | url=http://www.nashville.gov/Government/History-of-Metro.aspx | access-date=June 20, 2018}}</ref> Belle Meade streets have distinct signage, and the city has its own police force, mayor, and city hall.<ref name="Nashville 1962"/> Many houses in the city have been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Davidson County, Tennessee|National Register of Historic Places]] since July 7, 2004.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref>

The vast majority of the Belle Meade area is designated as [[ZIP code]] 37205. A few homes are in ZIP code 37215. Rusty Moore is the current mayor. His term expires in November 2026.<ref name="Commissioners">{{cite web|url=https://citybellemeade.org/person/rusty-moore/|title=Commissioners|access-date=April 12, 2022}}</ref>