Built from 1800 to 1805 the Croft House on the grounds of the Nashville Zoo is the second oldest house in Davidson County.
After falling behind on property taxes, Margaret and Elise Croft made a deal to donate 200 acres and the home that had been in their family for five generations to a local museum in 1964. However, the sisters got to live in the house until their deaths and after they had passed away the land would be used as a nature study center.
Though the sister鈥檚 wishes were carried out, some believe that at least one Croft sister stayed behind to look after their old home. While those that work in the historic house don鈥檛 talk about the paranormal, there are lots of stories about people seeing ladies looking out of the windows late in the evening. Phantom footsteps are also heard throughout the house as well as the front and back porches.
When the house was being restored in the 1990s radios occasionally turned themselves off and on. On one occasion in that same time period, a television crew came to the house to film a country music video. During the shoot, a clock that hadn鈥檛 worked in several years suddenly began ticking and chiming randomly.
If you’d like to learn more about the old Croft House at the Nashville Zoo, please check out our book Southern Ghost Stories: South Nashville.
