Story by Lee Rennick
Photos by Erin Kosko and Lee Rennick
The view from 2255 Middle Tennessee Boulevard has been a good spot for Anne and Jeff Davis and their family to watch Murfreesboro grow from a small town of 38,000 in 1983 when they moved here, to over 150,000 in 2025.
Decorated with heirloom antiques handed down through family generations and blended with a few modern elements, their downtown Tudor is filled with holiday spirit. Working with Kathy and Alison Jones and their team from The Peddler, Anne shared that the fresh magnolia and other greens they brought into the house for Christmas made all of the difference in setting a festive holiday tone.
As the scent of pine and evergreens fill the air, Christmas carols play quietly in the background. Anne makes sure that milk and cookies sit before the fireplace in their den, awaiting a visit from Santa Claus.
“So many wonderful Christmas celebrations have happened in this room,” Anne shares as she looks wistfully about the den. “Courtenay, our daughter, was 18 months old when we started on the den addition. Her brother, Jeff, Jr. came next and is three years younger.”
When the couple bought the home from Bart Gordon in 1985, it was a 1700 square foot Tudor cottage. Over the years the Davises made changes to fit their growing family. John Murray built an addition in 1988, patterned after the floorplan from Bettye Jane and Bren Huggin’s home on Park Circle, boasting the same square footage and shape. Their new garage was added during the COVID pandemic in 2020. It houses Jeff’s workshop, parking and an upstairs 2-bedroom apartment. Next came the primary suite bathroom remodel in the main house and finally the long-awaited new kitchen in 2022.
Home Bursting with Family History
Every room is filled with stories. Every Christmas decoration holds a memory. Every detail addresses a lifetime of holiday celebrations by the Davis and Courtenay families, who traveled from Huntsville to Murfreesboro to celebrate each and every year.
The Fontanini crèche, which sits on an antique silver chest in the black and white marble tiled foyer at the back of the house is from Italy. Anne has displayed it each year since their children were little, to center the family’s Christmas celebration around the birth of Christ. Every year Courtenay and Jeff wanted to play with the little baby Jesus that was part of the Nativity set, and one year He disappeared. “So I bought a second baby Jesus, before the original reappeared,” said Anne.
“This year while unpacking the Nativity set, it made me smile to see that there were two baby Jesuses in their mangers. It reminded me of that year when one of the children took baby Jesus to their room.”
Various pieces of original art painted by local artists and personal friends hang in the house. Several of these paintings were procured from the Brentwood Academy Fine Art Show & Sale, a past fundraiser for Brentwood Academy. Anne co-chaired the show in 2004 with her friend, Beth Beasley, while Courtenay and Jeff were high school students there. She first served as art show apprentice-chair, co-chair and then past chair.
“BA had many ways for you to get involved in the art show and stay involved,” laughed Anne. “And you ended up picking up pieces. We commuted to BA for seven years, and I tried to pick up a couple of pieces every year. My first piece was by Anna Japp.”
Japp is a mixed-media artist working on canvas, on paper and in photography. Her subject matter is primarily devoted to nature; however, she has also done photos of many famous Nashville landmarks. Joel Knapp was the featured artist the year that Anne co-chaired the event. Joel painted Courtenay as she practiced ballet and presented her with this painting at the end of the art show that year. She was thrilled! Joel’s painting hangs in her home today.
But Anne and Jeff’s most treasured pieces of art are original Jennifer Simpkins oil portraits of Courtenay and Jeff Jr. when each child was about five years old. When Simpkins came through town, several local parents commissioned their children’s portraits. Jennifer was known for her ability to capture each child’s likeness.
“If our house caught on fire,” said Anne, “We would grab those paintings. Because they capture the innocence of our children so well, and those memories are precious to us.”
When Jeff and Anne built their addition in 1988, Rebecca and former Mayor Jennings Jones’ daughter, Ellen Dupps, was chosen as their decorator. Ellen was associated with Dan Burton in Nashville and had worked with Jeanne Bragg and Kay Huddleston. Anne loved her designs.
“Ellen took my great-grandfather’s engravings to Anne Kidd, who re-matted and reframed them to period,” explained Anne. “Their original frames were so old. The new mats were hand-painted and gave the pieces new life. She really did things just so. That meant a lot to me.”
Other interior designers and builders have helped the Davises refresh rooms. Jerome Farris and John Murphy have overseen several furniture additions and the hanging of artwork from the Peddler over the decades. Chuck Loyd was designing the new garage apartment interiors when Anne was trying to determine where to put a beloved antique sofa in the main house that she had recently inherited from her parents.
“He said, ‘Well, we could put it over here under the paintings of your great-great-grandparents and then bring your dining room table into the old living room where you can put all of the leaves in it’,” explained Anne. “He said he loved a dining room with a fireplace, and I said that I did, too.”
Blending a modern light fixture and tall mirrors from Restoration Hardware with her antique dining table, the ceiling had to be reinforced with a steel beam to support the new chandelier. It is a stunning focal point for the room, especially during the holidays when it has been festooned with fresh greens.
“Our daughter is currently working on her master’s degree at Savannah College of Art and Design,” explained Anne. “She’s 38, studying online, and she and her husband Anand have two children, Sarina and Milo. She designed and decorated the holiday breakfast nook table, in what used to be the dining room, to be used by our four grandchildren during the holidays. Jeff Jr., a consultant with Neo4j, and his wife Nandini are parents to Alex and Margot, who now live in NYC. These eight family members are the love of Anne and Jeff’s lives.
Mary Elizabeth Tucker from The Peddler had the idea of hanging the little ballerinas from the breakfast nook chandelier for Sarina and Margot. “I bought the ballerinas on a girl’s trip to Orange Beach last fall and Courtenay worked to bring this idea to life.” The table is set with whimsical nutcracker plates, Sarina’s handmade votives and other childlike pieces.
In February of 2020, they tore down their old garage. COVID hit in March, when they were pouring the concrete foundation. “When COVID emerged, the construction workers were so thankful to have an outside job where they could keep working,” added Anne.
Three years ago, Anne and Jeff worked with Fletcher Holland again to transform their outdated kitchen into a more workable space, as it had been a tiny kitchen with a tiny breakfast nook for over 40 years. Fletcher, the owner of Bock & Sons Company, removed a thick wall, giving them the enlarged, modern kitchen of their dreams. It too is filled with holiday cheer, as both Anne and Jeff love to cook.
“The Bock & Sons Company name comes from Fletcher’s great-great granddaddy,” explained Anne. “He owned the horse and buggy company in downtown Murfreesboro where NHC is now located.”
Before reimagining the kitchen, they remodeled the bathroom in the primary suite. Working with a small bathroom, a tiny linen closet and a modest bedroom closet, Holland removed walls and totally redefined the space, while keeping the feel of the original home.
“It is minimal by new house standards,” noted Anne, “but it is fantastic compared to what we have been used to. Living downtown is a little different, because each old house has its own unique history, quirky challenges and personality. But we love our home and can’t wait to celebrate its 100th birthday in 1929!”
Anne and Jeff still find themselves in the first house they ever bought in Murfreesboro, built by the Shearron family. Over the years they have looked at other places and put in offers, but none of them worked out. “It just wasn’t meant to be,” Anne shared. “Jeff always said that if we could make it through the child rearing years when we needed a bit more room, our home would be perfect for us as empty nesters. He was right.”
Transplants Who’ve Made Murfreesboro Home
Anne and Jeff Davis moved to Murfreesboro in 1983 when they purchased the Murfreesboro Coca Cola Bottling Works from BJ and Bren Huggins. Jeff was the President, and his dad would come up from Huntsville for board meetings with Jeff and their partner Steve Scott. BJ became a close friend and mentor to Anne because of her deep love of, and leadership roles in Murfreesboro – and after all, the Huggins sold them the company that had been in their family since the late 1800’s.
“They took the time to entertain and introduce us to their family and friends,” said Anne. “We were so young - 26 and 27-years-old. Murfreesboro was such a beautiful small town, full of the most interesting people.
Bren introduced them to Tommy Hord, who became their realtor, friend and Jeff’s fishing buddy. He took them to all kinds of homes, but the one they chose near Middle Tennessee State University, not too far from the Huggins’ home, was the one that kept coming back to mind.
Jeff was not sure about living on a such a busy street, as they have always had dogs, so they looked at other houses. But they kept returning to what was then known as North Tennessee Boulevard.
“Then one Friday afternoon we went back to see the house and decided to buy it,” chuckled Anne. “We moved in on May 16, 1985, after searching for two years.”
Having no children at the time, and since the Huggins were empty nesters, Jeff and Anne spent lots of time visiting in the Huggins’ beautiful family room on Park Circle, the room that later inspired their own addition.
“We love the size of our den because more than one person can be in the room doing their own thing and there is plenty of room,” explained Anne. “We tweaked a few details, but basically it is the same design as the Huggins’ family room.”
After deciding that their current home was meant to be their forever home, it has been a work-in-progress.
Collaborating with the Historic Zoning Commission, of which Jeff is now the Chair, has been an integral part of fitting into the 2 historic districts in which their home sits. In an ironic historic twist, the cabinetry in their new kitchen was built by Jordan Pullias of Pullias Woodworking. He is the great-great-grandson of Simeon B. Christy, one of two namesakes in The Christy-Houston Foundation name where Anne currently serves as President.
Maintaining a sense of history of both their home and the community comes naturally to both Anne and Jeff. Jeff’s family was one of the first families to settle in Huntsville Alabama and Anne grew up in a family with origins that reach back to the late 1800’s in Charleston, South Carolina.
“My great-grandfather, William Ashmead Courtenay, was the mayor of Charleston during the Charleston earthquake. The old sentimental pieces in the house were his, like the sideboard and the silver chest. He was the mayor from 1879 to 1887 and has been remembered as one of the most beloved Mayors of Charleston.”
Anne is a prolific collector of antique blue and white porcelain, which can be found gracing her great-grandfather’s sideboard, as well as other pieces throughout the house blended with the Christmas décor. The formal table setting for Christmas dinner offers several pieces from this blue and white collection as centerpieces filled with flowers and poinsettias. Anne’s friend Susan Kane monogrammed and gifted her with the special linen napkins. Their wedding china boasts a blue and gold edge, and the silver pieces were inherited from her parents.
“In the early 1990’s, Marimae White, Susan Kane and I would take turns hosting occasional antique porcelain sales in our driveways. We had so much fun! Greg Pitts would pull into town in his truck and sell beautiful pieces to folks that were interested. Lots of locals started their blue and white collections during that time.”
Now their holiday celebrations are smaller, as many precious family members have passed away. But for years their parents and siblings would drive up from Huntsville, Alabama to celebrate on Christmas Eve, joining special downtown friends and neighbors.
“Jeff’s dad Joe Davis was the Mayor of Huntsville from 1968 - 1988, and he would come with Jeff’s brother Bill and sister Julia, then later Bill and his wife Virginia. Jeff’s grandmother lived to be 99 ½ and she would come every year! I can still see her sitting in her favorite chair. My mother and daddy, Carolyn and St. John Courtenay, and my brother St. John III and Beth would come to celebrate with close friends who would stop by. And those who couldn’t come on Christmas Eve would drive up on Christmas Day for lunch and festivities.”
“On Christmas Eve we’d always go to church at 4:30 pm to see the children’s Christmas play at St. Paul’s. As our children grew older, we’d attend the midnight service to hear the reading of John 1 and sing Jeff’s favorite hymn, Hark the Herald Angels Sing. After all, the birth of Jesus is the reason for all the celebrations! As we fondly remember the past and look forward to the future, we realize what a God-given blessing it is to have so many beautiful memories of Christmases through the years in our beloved home on the Boulevard.”