About Lotz House Museum

J.T. Thompson gets pretty excited about his own little slice of American history. He serves as the executive director of the Lotz House Museum, a commemorative collection of memorabilia and actual damage from the Battle of Franklin, a Civil War conflict that raged on November 30, 1864. At his museum, the history hardly stays confined to display cases. Instead, it is in the very woodwork. "Today, visitors can still see the bloodstains on the floors from where cannonballs hitting the house came to rest," Mr. Thompson says, in the same breath as mentioning "what many in the antique world describe as the finest collection of American-made 1820-to-1860 antiques… in the Southeast!"

Perhaps more compelling than the gruesome imagery or literal relics of the era, however, is the story of the Lotz family themselves, a mother, father, and three children younger than 9. They survived the battle based on their wits, turning their home into a hospital in the wake of the conflict. While their house stands virtually unchanged to this day, their personal lives altered course in astounding ways, most noticeable in the well-documented journeys of the Lotz children.

During a two year archeological excavation in the Lotz House cellar more than 900 Civil War relics have been discovered. There are both Military and civilian items. The cellar tour will include a review of the excavation process, a first-hand look at the some of the relics uncovered and a description of the significance of the findings along with an interpretation of how it relates to a better understanding of the happenings inside the Lotz House following the historic battle.