[8] The city's history dates back to 1807, when John Harding of Virginia purchased the Dunham's Station log cabin and 250 acres (100 ha) on the Natchez Trace near Richland Creek.

Over the next few decades, enslaved African Americans built Harding's mansion,[dubious – discuss] and established a thoroughbred breeding farm and cotton plantation.

He conducted various service businesses on the property, including a grist and saw mill, a cotton gin, and a blacksmith shop – all primarily operated by enslaved African-Americans.

In 1866 his daughter Selene married brigadier general William Hicks Jackson, who controlled the land from 1883 and made the estate gain international recognition for its horses.

[10] The city of 3.1 square miles (8.0 km2) takes its name from Belle Meade Plantation, which once encompassed 5,300 acres (2,100 ha).

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.

[12] 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.

In 1906 he co-founded the Belle Meade Land Company with J. M. Overton, Stuyvesant Fish, James Theodore Harahan, and J. C.

[13] In 1910 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.

[13] Belle Meade was absorbed into the metropolitan government of Nashville-Davidson County in 1963, but it retained its independent city status.

According to the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimate conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2016, the economy of Belle Meade focuses mainly on three industries: Healthcare and Social Assistance (22%); Professional, Scientific, and Tech Services (17.6%); and Finance and Insurance (15.6%).

Other sectors like Manufacturing (6.3%), Retail (5.1%), Education Services (7%), and Real Estate, Rental, and Leasing (6.9%) have smaller concentrations.

Notable occupations in smaller numbers included Legal (7.7%), Arts and Recreation (6.3%), Business and Financial (7.8%), and Education, Training, and Library (6.2%).

[25] Built in the 1820s by John Harding, Belle Meade Plantation is a primary attraction for those interested in the history and culture of the area.

The plantation is home to a number of historical buildings, including Dunham Station's cabin and a Victorian-style manor that houses a museum filled with artifacts that once belonged to the Harding family.

Located just outside the southwestern boundary of Belle Meade, the attraction hosts world-renowned art exhibits, festivals, and family events throughout the year.

The course uses a first-come, first-served, open play concept, and greens and rental cart fees are modest.

[31] Colonel Luke Lea and his second wife, Percie Warner, donated almost 900 acres of land – a large portion of which came from the former Belle Meade Plantation – to establish the park in 1927.

[33] The limestone staircase known as The Allee was designed by landscape architect Bryant Fleming and built in the mid-1930s to mark the entrance to Percy Warner Park at Belle Meade Boulevard.

[54] Belle Meade residents include former U.S. vice president and 2000 presidential candidate Al Gore;[55] entertainers Vince Gill and Amy Grant;[56] Pulitzer Prize winning author Jon Meacham;[57] Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court Frank Drowota;[58] co-founder and former CEO of Hospital Corporation of America Thomas F. Frist, Jr.;[59] Frist's son, investor Thomas F. Frist, III;[60] convicted cocaine smuggler Russell W. Brothers;[61] fast food business executive C. Stephen Lynn;[60] and chairman and CEO of Ingram Content Group John R.