Just got back from another trip up to the ‘Slope, where at long last work has begun in earnest on the outside of the house – if you’ve driven by in the last few days, you may have noticed that the big chimney has come down. Dakota said at one point it looked like the chimney had exploded, and it did, as the crew separated whole bricks and partial bricks, cut limestone bricks and handmade bricks, all the way down to the big limestone base that’s sunk a few feet into the ground.
Don’t fret though – it’s going back up, solid and secure, so the fireplace can be used again.
The south side of the yard was filled with brick and cut limestone and chunks of mortar as Luis’s crew made fast work of the big chimney. We even got a look inside a broken brick or two, so we marveled over the color that Roddye’s bricks were when he first stacked them up by the house.
It was very dusty. And, once Luis and the crew broke into the firebox, sooty. Alas, no treasures were found in the ancient soot. It was pretty clean, as soot goes.
There were other treasures. From fingerprints of the men who made the brick to the hoof prints of the goat or lamb who pranced on the mortar before the brick could be laid, it’s all there. And inside the firebox … well, I had to cancel my order for a new fireplace crane to cook with because I won’t be needing it. And buried in the soot, James Roddye’s original cast iron firebacks, going back in place to at least symbolically continue the work they’ve done for 237 years.
We learned that the mantlepiece we thought had been added in the 1930s was in place in the early 19th century, covering Roddye’s original, arched fireplace that had no mantle back in 1785. And we saw the massive header blocks … enormous chunks of wood nailed to the mantel to hold it in place while the mortar was drying.
Oh and speaking of mortar – Roddye didn’t exactly use what we’d think of as mortar on his part of the chimney. He used practically the same chinking material that he used between the logs of the cabin. Now THAT was a surprise!
This chimney appears to have been encased three times, bringing it to its current size. We’ll be taking it closer to Roddye’s original size and rather than using the stair-step structure to narrow at the top, the bricks will follow the arch from inside the firebox.
Mystery chimney
All three of Hayslope’s chimneys are being torn down and rebuilt, and that includes the mystery third chimney we first found in upstairs in the cedar room’s closet. It was cut off at the ceiling of the kitchen down below, where very obviously a pot bellied stove of some type vented up and out. It’s possible, of course, that Uncle Escoe built it exactly like that, using repurposed brick because they were in fact hand made. Or he cut off a chimney that once went all the way down to add his kitchen stove. The bricks were held in place up there with metal braces – a little scary.
Whether we’re returning this chimney to its original purpose or not, we’ll probably never know. We’ve had the base taken all the way to the ground in the cellar, and we’ll be adding a firebox on the first floor of our two-story back porch. Imagine having a cup of coffee on the back porch in the morning with a little fire burning there …
2 flues
As for the chimney on the north side of the house, that one will be last, and it’s an interesting structure. I’ll be very curious to see what’s inside there. We know this chimney was added later – likely when Roddye added that north annex, sometimes between 1800 and 1820. It, too, has been encased, so we’re hoping that getting down to its original construction may help us date it more conclusively.
This chimney serves two fireplaces, one on the first floor and another on the second. Amazingly, it has two flues – the two fireplaces are completely independent of one another, and that means we’ll be able to bring them both back to full functionality without too much trouble.
All aboard
We’ve got quite a crew together now to do the work. Rice Hauling and Junk Removal from Knoxville has already made the grounds presentable (and cleared out the house itself) and will be coming back for some demolition work. Four Seasons Chimney and Fireplace, also from Knoxville, are doing incredible work on the chimneys. And Russellville’s own TF Building Solutions will be handling the roof and interior work.
Everybody’s super excited about this project, maybe none more so than the TF of TF Building Solutions – Thomas Fraser, who is busy with his own renovation – Greystone Cottage, the former home of Frank and Rebecca Dougherty Hyatt. You may know of Rebecca and her sisters Sarah (Sallie) and Mary Ella, who for years ran the Shuttle Crafters, the famed weaving center right over there on Three Springs Road, from 1923 into the 1950s (I believe). All three sisters were very active in our community, and Sallie later was instrumental in founding the David Crockett Tavern and Museum in Morristown.
Of course, the weaving the sisters did predates the Shuttle Crafters. They learned to weave from their mother, Leah Adams Dougherty, who learned from her mother. In fact, there’s a fragment of a coverlet that Sallie wove in 1910 at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. The blue and white piece is a copy of a border she saw on George Washington’s bed at Mount Vernon and isn’t currently on display at the museum.
But wait there’s more
Yeah, this wasn’t all that went down in my very short week at the house. We made some other very very interesting discoveries when the guys took down some of the ceiling in the cedar room. I’m really starting to understand that there’s just no end to finding new things as we go through this long overdue process of bringing Hayslope back to her full glory.
I’m just not gonna tell you what it all is yet.
Awesome.