Dolly Parton's House (former)

Dolly Parton was the singer-songwriter and actress behind “Jolene,” “9 to 5,” and “I Will Always Love You.” She recorded country music from the 1960s until her death in Nashville on August 25, 2026, at 80.

Dolly and her husband, Carl Dean, did not buy this house. Carl, her uncle Dot Watson, and her brothers Denver and Randy built it, and the 23 rooms were finished in 1972.

Dolly called the place Willow Lake Plantation. Other people called it Tara, and her 1994 memoir waved that off: “To us it will always be Willow Lake Plantation.”

She wanted the land for distance. “We’d better buy a big-enough lot so that we can have privacy when the tour buses come by trying to look in,” she told Carl, according to her memoir.

Williamson County’s assessor carries the property as a farm of 69.32 acres, with the house dated 1972. Homes & Gardens printed 63 acres after her death, and the county’s card does not agree.

Brentwood approved a 4th barn in 2014, 80 feet by 30 feet, on 2 conditions. It had to stay under 17 feet tall and match the 3 barns already standing.

In 1973, a year after the house was finished, Brentwood zoned its east side for 3-acre lots, with every house at least 175 feet from the road.

The house left her own name before she died. A transfer recorded on April 21, 2026 put it in a family trust, and her estate plan was not public as of September 3, 2026.

Carl died on March 3, 2025, at 82. After a private family funeral, Dolly was laid to rest beside him in the mausoleum at Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville.