Octagon Hall
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Nearest city	Franklin, Kentucky
Coordinates	36°48′25″N 86°33′25″W / 36.80694°N 86.55694°W / 36.80694; -86.55694 (Octagon Hall)
Area	1.8 acres (0.73 ha)
Built	1862
NRHP reference No.	80001667[1]
Added to NRHP	April 10, 1980

Octagon Hall is an eight-sided house in Simpson County, Kentucky near Franklin, Kentucky completed around 1860.^[2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.^[1] It has also been known as the Andrew Jackson Caldwell House after the man who built the house. There is a second contributing building on the property, a detached summer kitchen.^[3]

Octagon Hall is located northeast of Franklin, Kentucky on U.S. Route 31W.

It is a red brick, two-story octagonal house with a high basement. The octagonal plan was likely inspired by Orson Squire Fowler's 1848 book, The Octagon House: A Home for All, which developed a trend in American architecture starting in the 1850s.^[4] It is one of two surviving octagonal structures in Kentucky.^[3]

The three front facades have brick laid in Flemish bond, while brickwork is common bond elsewhere.^[5]

In 1847, Andrew Jackson Caldwell laid out the foundation for a distinctive new family home. By 1860, Caldwell was living there with his wife Harriet Morton Caldwell, daughters Frances, Mary, and Martha, and son Henry.^[2]

During the Civil War, Octagon Hall served as a hospital for both Confederate and Union soldiers. It also doubled as a hideout for Confederate troops on the run from the Union army.^{[citation needed]}

Harriet Caldwell lived in the house after her husband's death in 1866.^[6] After 1916, the property was sold to Miles Williams, a Nashville doctor.^[2]

In 2001, the property was purchased by the Octagon Hall Foundation.^[7] Director Billy D. Byrd has operated the site as a non-profit museum and local attraction,^[8] highlighting the paranormal experiences he has reported there.^[9][10][11] Currently, it is the site of the Octagon Hall Museum & Kentucky Confederate Studies Archive. It includes a library, a display of Civil War artifacts, Native American artifacts, and genealogical and historical research material. A slave cemetery and historic gardens are on the grounds.^[12]

Octagon Hall has been promoted and popularized as a haunted place.^[9][13][14] Octagon Hall has been featured on A&E, Syfy, History Channel, Discovery Channel, and many others. It was featured on Haunted Live on the Travel Channel in 2018.^[15]