Sarah Estell's Ice Cream Shop and Sarah Porter's School

Two incredible women defied all odds to make Nashville a better place during the antebellum era. They also shared the same first name—Sarah. Sarah Estell and Sarah Porter lived as free Black women in Nashville. They were members of a group that represented only four percent of all Davidson County’s Black residents. Their accomplishments were all the more remarkable because they lived in a time when free African Americans were considered only a step above those enslaved.

Many of Nashville’s 665 free Black women worked as domestics for meager wages—gaining employment as cooks, chambermaids, washerwomen, seamstresses, and nannies for white clientele. Estell and Porter utilized the skills needed to be successful in these occupations and leveraged their professional connections to become inspiring entrepreneurs.

Sarah Estell opened an ice cream and sweet shop, which first operated out of a log cabin on Church Street next to McKendree United Methodist Church. Estell’s ice cream was mostly a custard-based ice cream made with dairy, eggs, and sugar slightly cooked before chilling. She later expanded to rent rooms as part of a boarding house on Fourth Avenue North. Her ice cream and confections became quite popular around Nashville with one enthusiastic observer who noted that her sweet treats disappeared “like dew before the sun.” Business boomed from 1840 to 1860, and Estell’s catering firm enjoyed both Black and white patronage. She closed her shop just before the start of the Civil War. 

And what about the other Sarah? Sarah Porter worked as a baker in Nashville during the 1830s. She rejected this quiet, idyllic life by opening a school for free and enslaved children in 1841 in her home just a few blocks from here. The structure no longer exists, but her story is worth remembering. Porter was a free Black woman in Nashville who was married to an enslaved man. Opening the school took a great deal of courage, and she knew that doing so could jeopardize her life. The subject of African American education was very controversial, even for free Blacks. Seven years earlier, in 1834, Alphonso Sumner, a well-respected free African American opened the first school for Blacks. The school prospered, growing from 20 to 200 students, until whites accused him of communicating with fugitive slaves. After being severely whipped, Sumner fled to Cincinnati, leaving the school without a leader. Sarah Porter stepped up and continued to operate the school for the next two years, keeping the dream of education alive for local African American students. Sarah Estell and Sarah Porter’s lives illustrate the strength and resilience of Nashville’s Black community—taking adversity and turning it into an opportunity.

Walk north up Fifth Ave. North, crossing to the right side of the street in front of The Arcade. The Fifth Ave. Historic District, Woolworth on Fifth, and The Arcade are featured on many other tours, including our Civil Rights Tour, Food for Thought Tour, and Capitol and Church Architecture Tour. Continue walking north until you reach Union Street, then turn RIGHT. Optionally, you can walk through The Arcade then turn LEFT on Arcade Alley and RIGHT on Union Street. The fifth tour stop will be straight ahead just before you reach Fourth Ave. North.