The following ‘finds’ from the National
Register of Historic Places are from Monroe and Loudon Counties in Eastern
Tennessee.
This is the McCollum Farm in the
Greenback area of Loudon County. From an
article in the Greenback Historical Society’s “Chronicler” published on 1/10/11,
I learned that Joseph McCollum built this home before the Civil War. He moved in with his new bride, Nancy. He was a master craftsman and a tanner. He built caskets as needed for his neighbors;
he made shoes, and raised cattle, sheep and mules for their meat and
hides. His wife processed the wool from
the sheep.
This home has come a long way following its purchase by Tim Grindstaff!
This earlier photo was ‘borrowed’ from a posting
on Wikipedia. As per the Knox Heritage
website, Tim received a preservation award for his work on this home in 2010. The Greenback Historical Society held an open
house shortly after the award was made…and over 200 local residents came to
view Tim’s efforts to preserve this NRHP home.
For more information regarding Knox
Heritage, go to http://www.knoxheritage.org/. To learn more about the Greenback Historical
Society, click on http://www.gbhistorical.webs.com/.
This is the Mason Place in Lenoir City Tennessee. It was built by Thomas Jefferson Mason, a
river boat captain and a Union sympathizer. William Cassada was the contractor,
Mason's son-in-law and a Confederate sympathizer. Note that he built the stars and stripes of the
Confederate flag into the upstairs porch balustrade.
Prior to the Civil War and construction
of the house, slaves had made and stacked a quarter million bricks for construction
of the home. During the conflict, the
bricks were used for a gun replacement at Fort Hill. Rather than wait for replacement bricks,
Captain Mason decided to build the house out of heart-of-pine. The house was originally part of a 1,200 acre
plantation. At various times during the
Civil War, the home was occupied by both the Northern and Southern armies. For a period of time, the Mason Place was operated
as a bed and breakfast, but I couldn’t find a current B&B listing for this
home.
This is the Stickley House in
Madisonville Tennessee. It’s also known
as the Cannon-Stickley House although its first owner was Joseph E. Houston and
his wife, Blanche. Their daughter
Josephone married Vastine Stickley… This
1846 Greek revival home was designed by New York architect Thomas Blanchard. It has two spiral staircases, its original
mantles, wainscoting, as well as brick walls that are five bricks thick. Although the Greek Revival style was common
for courthouses and other civic buildings, houses built in the style are more
unique.
Joseph was a tanner by trade but after
the Civil War he apparently served as Circuit Court Clerk, Sheriff and Master
of the Chancery Court. He and Blanche
were married in 1834 and they lived to celebrate their 50th
anniversary, no mean feat in the 1800’s!
One of their descendant’s, Nancy Elizabeth Jones Stickley, was active in
the DAR and she contributed the Stickley Collection (genealogical) to the
Tennessee State Library and Archives. (It contains materials from 1600 – 1946)
This house was recently on the market… An
open house was staged on 9/15/11 and over 200 people came through the
property. It sits on 5 acres about a
block from downtown Madisonville. The home
has 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths in 4,236 square feet. The listing price: $220,000. The listing I found showed that it had been
sold. To see what this impressive house
looked like on the inside and also what work needed to be done by the new owner,
just go to http://www.oldhousedreams.com/2011/10/25/1840-greek-revival-madisonville-tn-220000/.
That’s about it for this edition of my
little historical blog… So much to research and so little time and space! Photos have already been taken and more research
into the history of East Tennessee is already underway… What the heck, I can’t
always blog about food and restaurants!
My doctor wouldn’t appreciate it!
Just click on any photo to enlarge it…
Thanks for stopping by for this little
trip back in time!
Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
They say its haunted. I live in Maddie
ReplyDeleteThe Mason place is in Loudon not Lenoir City :) My boyfriends the great great great grandson of Thomas Jefferson Mason :) His father and uncles grew up in that house :)
ReplyDeleteHaylee, Error noted! I checked the listing again and you are indeed correct. Thanks and Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
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