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| The old homestead. After moving the house 100 miles to its new home at the Ames Plantation and giving the exterior a make-over (above), the author focused on saving the interior walls’ intricate stenciling (below). |
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A Tennessee Treasure
From the moment she saw the artistry in this abandoned farmhouse, she just knew that she had to save it.
By Nita Rutledge, Pickwick Dam, Tennessee
The story of the Stencil House started more than 170 years ago, when an early settler carved out a home in the Tennessee wilderness.
I first heard of the house in 1987. I had spent years photographing and documenting the history of the old houses in my area, and knew I had to see this one. Royal Evans, a local farmer who leased the land from an absentee owner, gave me permission to go on the property.
The first time I saw this abandoned farmhouse and the treasure within its walls, it simply took my breath away.
Stencil patterns of swags, willow trees, pineapples, leaves, bouquets and baskets of flowers in brilliant shades of blue, green and red adorned the walls, ceilings and doors. The floor was the only surface left untouched.
I don’t remember how long I stayed in the house the first time, but I will never forget my feeling of wonder at the beauty hidden in it.
I spent the next 14 years trying to save the Stencil House from time and the elements.
Beauty in the Wilderness
After leaving, I couldn’t wait to research the origins of the house and the stenciling. The second owner of the land was Nathaniel Johnson, and he probably built the dogtrot log house in the 1820s.
Within a few years, the exterior was covered in poplar weatherboarding, and the dogtrot was closed in to become a hall. The interior logs of one room and the hall were covered in beadboard, and the second room was plastered.
An itinerant artist did the stenciling in the house in the 1830s, using patterns designed by Moses Eaton Sr., a widely known New England stenciler. He trained a number of artists, including his son, Moses Eaton Jr. Only one stencil was not credited to him.
Wallpaper was too expensive for the average family, and stenciling was an affordable way of bringing beauty into a home. Life was hard, but the stenciling shows this family loved beauty.
After that first visit in 1987, I contacted Jennie Smithson, the owner of the property and a direct descendant of Nathaniel Johnson. Over the next 14 years, she and I became well acquainted through dozens of phone conversations.
The house pulled at me constantly, and every few months I would return to Wayne County. During those years, I watched the house and stenciling slowly deteriorate. Vandals broke the windows, birds built nests in the house, and my level of frustration grew.
In the mid-1990s, a tree limb damaged the tin roof over the stenciled room and rain began coming in. Tin was donated and volunteers used it to patch the roof, delaying the inevitable a bit longer.
A few years later, a storm destroyed a large portion of the roof in the same area. A large section of stenciled wall between two windows was stolen. I had watched many houses disappear from the Tennessee landscape, but I knew this one was going to be the hardest loss for me.
When it rained, I would lie awake and think about the Stencil House’s leaking roof. That's when fate stepped in.
It All Came Together
In early winter of 2001, I visited the Ames Plantation at Grand Junction, Tennessee. The plantation is owned and operated by the trustees of the Hobart Ames Foundation as a University of Tennessee Agricultural Research and Education Center. I met the cultural resource manager, Jamie Evans.
I told Jamie there was a house I wanted him to see in the hopes it might meet the criteria for their Historic Village. As it turned out, Jamie is Royal Evans’ nephew and was born and raised less than 5 miles from the Stencil House. I believe some things are just meant to be. My meeting with Jamie that day was no coincidence.
We made a trip to the house, and he determined it would complement the educational program at Ames. We then traveled more than 200 miles to meet with the owner. Less than 2 weeks later, Mrs. Smithson generously donated the house and all outbuildings to the plantation. After years of struggling to save the house, it all came together in a matter of a few weeks.
On the Move
In early spring of 2002, preparations began to move the house to the Ames Plantation. The modern additions to the front and back were torn off, and the chimneys and roof removed. The new height and width allowed the house to be moved without affecting electric and telephone lines.
After 2 months of hard work at the site, the Stencil House was ready to be moved 100 miles to its new home. The trip went smoothly. As Jamie said, “The house arrived at Ames without losing so much as a splinter!”
A new tin roof was donated. Funds from the Ames Plantation and a few wonderful donors covered the cost of early restoration, and a grant from the state of Tennessee paid for extensive work on the structure. An open front porch reveals the beautiful lines of the house and every effort has been made to maintain the historical integrity.
Mrs. Smithson stood in front of the Stencil House a few months ago, with tears running down her cheeks. “It looks like it did when I was a child,” she said.
The exterior is now in excellent condition, and the focus has turned to conservation. In spite of damage to some of the stenciling, the house still has the largest collection of extant stenciling in all of Tennessee. The consensus is that conservation will be time-consuming and expensive, so now the really hard work begins, and funds must be raised.
I will never forget the way I felt the first time I saw this Tennessee treasure because I still experience that same sense of wonder every time I visit the house. The story of the Stencil House is far from finished, but with the protection of the Ames Plantation, future generations will experience that first-time wonder for themselves.
Photographs by Ginger Trice 