Athenaeum, Columbia

About Athenaeum

The Historic Athenaeum in Columbia, Tennessee is a museum housed in a rectory built in 1837 by Nathan Vaught for Samuel Polk Walker, a nephew of President James K. Polk. Visitors tour the home where Reverend Franklin Gillette Smith and his family lived while he served as headmaster of the Columbia Female Institute. The Athenaeum operated as one of the first private schools for girls unaffiliated with a religion, where students studied advanced mathematics, sciences, foreign languages, musical instruments, and etiquette. The building stands as the sole remaining structure from both the Columbia Female Institute and the Athenaeum School, which closed during the Great Depression. The Smith family occupied the home for over 130 years before donating it to preserve the history of the family and education in Maury County. The Maury County Chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities now operates the historic house as a museum open for appointments.