The house at 5700 Main Street hasn't changed much in years, but the property around it has been growing. Rippa Villa now has 11.57 more acres of battlefield set aside for preservation, a slave cabin under a state-funded repair grant, and a bronze bust on the grounds that wasn't there two summers ago. On Friday, October 9, families will spread blankets on the lawn for a free showing of Hocus Pocus. They'll be sitting at a site that has been adding ground and adding people to its story. It isn't a finished house museum.
Friday's Movie Night Is on Former Farm Ground
The city's calendar lists Movie at the Mansion at Rippa Villa for October 9, 2026, at 6 p.m. Maury County's tourism listing names the film as Hocus Pocus and asks guests to bring blankets, chairs and snacks. The event is free, and the movie starts at dark.
That's a family Halloween night on a lawn in town. The setup behind it is worth knowing. The City of Spring Hill owns Rippa Villa, and the Battle of Franklin Trust, a private nonprofit, manages it. The Trust took over in mid-2021, and the city has since renewed that contract through 2037. That gives the Trust more than a decade to plan, and its recent moves look like a group building for the long run.
There's one thing a Halloween crowd might assume that isn't true. The Trust says outright that its programs don't include ghost tours. The movie is where the spooky stuff starts and stops.
The Smith Tract Puts Back a Piece of the Cheairs Farm
The biggest change at Rippa Villa is a field you can't see from the front porch. In 2023, the Trust learned that 11.57 acres just north of the historic Cheairs home were available for sale. The parcel sits right next to land the American Battlefield Trust saved more than a decade ago. It was once part of the Cheairs family farm, and the Trust calls it "a core piece of the battlefield."
On August 19, 2025, the Trust signed a contract to buy what it calls the Smith Tract. Funding includes the Civil War Sites Preservation Fund, which the Tennessee Wars Commission and the Tennessee Historical Commission administer, along with help from the American Battlefield Protection Program and individual donors. WKRN reported that the city would put its hotel/motel tax toward the purchase. Visitor spending is paying to protect the ground visitors come to see.
Mayor Matt Fitterer explained the city's reasoning to WKRN:
"When we have an opportunity to protect that battlefield land from development and turn it into a city asset and a cultural asset where that history can be shared and celebrated, we're going to try to encourage those opportunities."
The history of this particular land is specific. Just before sunset on November 29, 1864, part of Gen. Hiram B. Granbury's Brigade crossed it and ran into Union resistance. Granbury was pulled back from Columbia Pike when the rest of Gen. Pat Cleburne's Division got pulled into the fighting. Granbury and many of his Texas troops died the next day at Franklin. The Trust says the fighting around Spring Hill was short and intense, with almost 750 casualties. The Union army slipped north to Franklin overnight.
The Trust's CEO, Eric Jacobson, makes a practical case for keeping land like this open. "We have almost 100,000 visitors a year, and most of those people aren't even from Tennessee," he told WKRN, describing guests who "visit places like Rippa Villa and walk the battlefield."
One Cabin Left Out of at Least Twelve
The house was never the whole story, and the Trust's recent work leans into that. Jacobson told the Williamson Herald that at least a dozen cabins once stood on the property. Only one is left. In the 2025-26 grant cycle, Rippa Villa received $100,000 from a state program run by the Tennessee State Museum. The money is for stabilizing the cabin's stone pier foundation, chimney and interior, "to allow for appropriate interpretation and access for guests and staff."
The competition for that money was stiff. The museum received 178 applications asking for a combined $12,031,874. It made full or partial awards to 99 museums in 45 counties. Rippa Villa's $100,000 was the most any one applicant could ask for. The grant set a June 30, 2026 deadline for the work. We couldn't find a public announcement that the work is done, and the Trust's current tour list doesn't name the cabin as a stop. If seeing it matters to you, call ahead and ask.
People are part of this change too. According to WKRN, about 75 enslaved people lived at Rippa Villa during the war. On August 7, 2025, descendants unveiled a bronze bust of Anna McKissack Bunch, who was enslaved there. The Trust's tour list reflects the same approach. It offers a classic house tour, an extended tour, a Spring Hill walking tour, and a tour focused on slavery and the enslaved people who lived on the property.
So the bust, the cabin and the new acreage all point the same way. Rippa Villa is filling in the farm and the community that surrounded the Cheairs house, along with the fields where the battle actually happened.
The Fall Calendar, With What's Confirmed and What Isn't
Some of this season's dates are firm. Others are still waiting on details. Here's where each one stands as of early October 2026.
| Date | What | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri., Oct. 9 | Movie at the Mansion, Hocus Pocus, free | Rippa Villa, 5700 Main St. | Confirmed, gather at 6 p.m., film at dark |
| Sat., Oct. 24 | Trunk or Treat | Fischer Park at Port Royal, 4285 Port Royal Rd. | Confirmed, 5 to 8 p.m. |
| Sun., Nov. 29 | 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Spring Hill | Rippa Villa | Program not yet announced |
| Ongoing | House, extended, walking, and slavery-focused tours | Rippa Villa | On the Trust's current tour list |
Trunk or Treat comes from the City of Spring Hill's calendar. Fischer Park has the space for a crowd. The city describes 30 acres with an ADA-compliant playground, a splash pad, a Veterans Wall and Plaza, three picnic pavilions, a 3,000-foot multi-use path and nearly 400 parking spaces.
The Trust holds commemorations for the Spring Hill and Franklin battles every year on November 29 and 30. Its anniversary page still says to stay tuned for this year's program. Last year's schedule gives an idea of the format. Regular tours ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on November 29, 2025, followed by shorter evening tours from 5 to 7 p.m. This year, November 29 falls on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
Where You Can Walk Today, and What Comes Next
The Smith Tract isn't a trail yet. When the Trust announced the purchase, it said the property would need cleanup and maintenance and that it was writing historical markers for this site and other Spring Hill battlefield locations. We haven't seen word that the parcel has public access, signs or parking. For now, think of it as protected ground that's still being prepared. It isn't a place for an afternoon walk yet.
If you want to walk battlefield ground today, the American Battlefield Trust has an interpretive walking trail southeast of town at Kedron Road and Reserve Boulevard. That land borders the property the Battle of Franklin Trust is now adding, so the preserved battlefield in Spring Hill keeps growing piece by piece.
There's probably more coming. The Trust says three other battlefield sites in Spring Hill and Franklin "are on the horizon and might be purchased in the future." With the management contract running through 2037 and the city already helping with one purchase, the Rippa Villa you see on Main Street next fall may look different again.
At The Wood Team, we love a Spring Hill tradition that keeps getting richer, and we hope to see you on the Rippa Villa lawn on the 9th. If you have questions about Spring Hill or Rippa Villa, or about what's changing on Main Street, we're happy to sit down with you. Schedule your free consultation.
