SCOUTS

Frontier Families

Available year-round
Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Girl Scouts

*Includes exclusive Belle Meade Harding Cabin Patch (while supplies last)

Discover how children and families lived on the Tennessee frontier when you visit the Harding’s 1807 log cabin. Compare and contrast their home with your own and find out what has changed over time and what has stayed the same! Learn the names of the earliest enslaved people on this farm and find out how two of them escaped from this property. Try your hand at carding wool, doing laundry in a washtub, dipping candles, and more!

Butter Churning: Add on $3/scout

Growing Up in the Gilded Age

Available year-round
Daisy, Brownie, and Junior Girl Scouts 

What was daily life like for young Nashvillians in the 1880s? In the years between the Civil War and the 20th century, the South experienced many social, economic, and industrial changes. What was it like to grow up in such a time of change? How did their lives compare to ours today? Find out when you tour Belle Meade Mansion to uncover the story of the Harding-Jackson family and the many people who labored on their farm and in their house. Discover more about 1800s technology innovation when you explore how telegraphs and early telephones worked, and make a tin-punched candle holder to take home!

Tea Time at Belle Meade

Available year-round
All levels of Girl Scouts

You are cordially invited to a Victorian Tea Party! While you sip tea with us, learn how tea time changed in the United States throughout the 1800s, discover the difference between “Afternoon Tea” and “High Tea,” and find out how elegant tea parties were connected with the Suffrage Movement! This program is available for Girl Scouts of any age and level. The program includes a tour of Belle Meade Mansion and you can add a 30-minute, scone-making lesson for only $3 more per person! 

Tea Time at Belle Meade Pricing:

• $18 per Scout (minimum of 5)
• $18 per Parent/Chaperone
• Scout Leader and Co-Leader: Free
• Scone-Making Lesson: Please add $3 per person and 30 additional minutes.

A Night Before Christmas

Available November-December
All levels of Girl Scouts

*Includes exclusive Belle Meade Century of Christmas Patch (while supplies last)

You’re invited to a special holiday-themed tour, as we explore Christmas with the Jackson children! Find out what was on their letters to Santa and discover which Christmas traditions have evolved over time and which are exactly the same! As we follow along with lines and lyrics from Christmas songs and poems penned during the 1800s, this tour through the Mansion will get you in the holiday spirit! After the tour, make your own Victorian-inspired holiday ornaments and play with popular toys from the late 1800s in our History Makers Space.

Nature Exploration

Available April-October
Junior and Cadette Girl Scouts

*Includes exclusive Belle Meade Naturalist Patch (while supplies last)

Did you know that Belle Meade is a Certified Level 2 Arboretum? Explore our award-winning grounds on a guided outdoor tree tour! Receive your own Tree Identification Key, so that you can amaze your friends and family with your new-found knowledge of local trees. Learn about the many uses of trees (past and present) and explore the connection between people and trees with hands-on crafts and activities.

Stories of Slavery and Freedom

Available year-round
All levels of Girl Scouts

Learn about the African American experience at Belle Meade as you tour the Slave Cabin and the Mansion. On your visit, you will follow a day in the lives of Millie and Monroe, two children who labored on the Belle Meade Farm in the years surrounding the Civil War. Examine the symbolism found in African American music and folk art of the time and create your own symbolic art. Develop a deeper understanding of the African American experience in the 1800s, from the daily struggles of slavery, to the complicated nature of freedom, and the ways in which enslaved people both thrived and survived in difficult times.

Native American History

Available April-October
Daisy and Brownie Girl Scouts

Come learn about the Native Americans who lived in Middle Tennessee before the Harding family moved here. Play Native American games, make a craft, discuss Native American writing, and read a story on the banks of Richland Creek.

* In case of inclement weather, the outdoor program will be held in our History Makers Space.