What a trip! And a busy one that included lots of clean-up, a visit from kids, and getting an award!
But before all that, I stopped by Rose Center in Morristown to see an Empire-style sofa that had once graced Hayslope. And what a beautiful piece of furniture!
The piece left Hayslope after Cassie Rogan’s death with Margaret Rogan Millar, Theo and Louisa’s granddaughter and the daughter of Margaret Louise Rogan and her husband William H. Millar. Margaret Millar was by then married to Kenneth Barnes, originally of West Virginia, and when she died in 1976 the sofa was donated to Rose Center, which was around that time becoming the museum and arts center it is now.
The sofa is in the center’s lobby in excellent condition — I am certain Mrs. Barnes had it reupholstered! Beccy Hamm, Rose Center’s executive director, told me she believes a Jenny Lind bed in the Center’s museum upstairs also came from Hayslope. The center has the paperwork for all the donations, and she promised to look it up to confirm.
It does make me wonder, though, if there’s other furniture around somewhere, or other items – maybe the silver candlesticks that Ann Kendrick Walker said were on the table for Theo and Louisa’s 50th wedding anniversary and had been part of Hugh Graham and Catherine Nenney’s wedding celebration? Who knows?
James Roddye in da house!
Next up was all the aforementioned cleaning. I mean, it’s not possible for Hayslope to be spotless right now, but it did need a little straightening up because Marisa Simmons’ history club kids were coming to visit. Ridiculously, I didn’t count the kids, but I’d say we had 10-12 plus 4 or 5 adults.
Everybody was attentive and asked great questions as Mr Roddye (Dakota) and I discussed the history of the house and the families who lived here as well as generally talking about life in East Tennessee from colonial times forward.
We thoroughly enjoyed hosting the group and sure hope they come by again as we progress further in our renovations!
Off to Knoxville
That was on Monday, and I was going to be heading back to Georgia on Tuesday. Those plans changed, though, when I was notified that we’d been nominated for one of the East Tennessee Historical Society’s Awards of Excellence, and the ceremony just happened to be on Tuesday.
Dakota was nominated too, for his work with the Riggs House. And we won! I’m so thrilled and thankful to the ETHS for this award, what I hope will be the first of many as we take our place in our region’s storied history.
Congrats to Dakota, who picked up his third Award of Excellence, and to all the other award winners who are dedicated huge parts of their lives to preserving and promoting East Tennessee history.
Things grow
I brought a chainsaw with me this trip, intending to chainsaw a view of the field north of the house from our “office” under the “carport.” But alas, the vines did not lend themselves well to chainsaws, so I’ll be bringing up a hedge trimmer next time, along with the chainsaw.
And I’ll be wearing long sleeves, because all I ended up doing was giving myself a nasty case of poison sumac, the only one of the poison three (oak and ivy being the other two) that I’m not immune to.
And since I came back to Georgia, contractor Thomas and his guys have been by, removing the trash from dismantling the upstairs back portion of the house. That part was added in the 20th century and will be replaced by a two-story back porch, as we’ve seen in photos from the Rogan era.
The cedar room built by my great uncle was carefully dismantled, and the wood put into storage, because it’s going to be used in our bathrooms.
And soon, we’ll have a split rail fence and actual gates across the front, so keep an eye out!