This lot and the one opposite it were designated the "top" ones of the downtown district, just below the parish church and school site. This lease had held a residence since Sewanee's founding, and the original family was Mr. and Mrs. Wadhams and their daughter, Lizzie. He was a baker and his shop with its entrance to the left of the residence was a very popular spot in town. After her parents died, Lizzie sold the place and lived in an apartment for years. In the 1920s J.D. Sutherland bought the building and had a café there but ten years later gave the lease up to Mrs. Bessie Baker, whose husband Henry P. Baker bought the cafe across the street too. The heirs of the Bakers returned the two leases in 1968, and both cafes are gone.
Patricia Makris, The Other Side of Sewanee, p.38
Notes about the Wadhams
pp. 34-35 Wadhams from Makris book, see above
There were many interesting characters living in the village of Sewanee. Charles Wadhams can be described as such a character. He was born in Colinton, near Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1828, he left Scotland and went to London, where he became one of Queen Victoria’s light guards. In 1852, Charles brought his bride, Elizabeth Gibson Wadhams, to America. They first lived in New York, where he worked as a steward in a hotel. In 1858, he moved to Nashville where he also worked as a steward. He moved to Sewanee in 1871.
Charles Wadhams, Goodspeed’s History of Tennessee, (Nashville,1886)
Charles and Elizabeth had a daughter named Elizabeth. "Lizzie" taught music and crafts in the village. She was a wood carver and also an accomplished painter. Some of her paintings are still hanging in Sewanee homes. She never married and was considered a good friend to many of the villagers.
Mr. Wadhams owned his bakery at the top of the hill in the Village. He sold a variety of goods including cookies, freshly baked bread, pies, cakes, and home-made ice cream was his specialty. His bakery was the most popular place in the village. He became affectionately known as “Bishop Wadhams.”
Purple Sewanee, (Sewanee, 1913, Reprint 1962) p. 46
Photo courtesy of the University Archives