In 1887 the Kappa Sigmas built the first phase of this house, which had only two large rooms and a kitchen. The Cheapes purchased the house around 1900. They added a bathroom and a second level accessed by a set of exterior stairs at the rear of the house. They also created a new kitchen area by constructing a wall in the rear room. Beginning in 1916 it was used as a Sewanee Military Academy fraternity house for two years. About this time, it was owned by Ina Mae Myers' grandfather, but he never lived in it. Sheriff Jackson bought it in the early 1920s and his widow still resided there when she died more than 50 years later. Jackson made many changes to the house. He had his sons build the sun porch in the front and dig and pick out the stone to make a cellar for the furnace. He also had the fireplace and the front porch stoned. Jackson then made the small porch on the side a “blind” porch. He also had Mr. Castleberry construct an unusual unsupported stairway in the front entranceway and a bay window. Phil and Jerry White purchased the house in 1975 from Dr. Harold Jackson, a son of Sheriff Jackson’s. An unusual modification made by Jackson was the installation of what he called a “rectifier” in the ground outside the living room. It was still there in 1975 and White noted, “It held and aged the moonshine he took in raids. He used it, in part, as currency to pay Arthur Terrill and others for odds jobs around the house. The pipe from which he drew the whiskey was still sticking out of the ground when I bought the house, but I did not have gumption enough to see if I could recover some mellow shine.”
In 1870, soon after she built Saint’s Rest, Mrs. Stephen Elliott had this cottage built to "accommodate 10 students." When her older daughter, Esther (“Hessie”), married Dr. Francis Shoup a year or so later, it became their home and has been called Shoup Lodge most of the time since. Dr. Shoup, a graduate of West Point, was a Brigadier General of the Confederacy who became a clergyman after the Civil War. He fought alongside Bishop Leonidas Polk and was baptized on the battlefield by Bishop Elliott. He taught mathematics at the University of Mississippi for a while after the war and came to Sewanee as a mathematics instructor and acting chaplain in 1870. He was described by one of his students as "Handsome as Plato, indolent until aroused to mental coruscation; mathematician, engineer, Confederate General and, last, metaphysician." For a time, Dr. Shoup had a parish in Waterford, New York where he inspired an Episcopal family in giving Sewanee’s famous Breslin Tower. However, the Shoups returned to Sewanee and he returned to the University faculty in 1883. After Dr. Shoup died in 1896, Mrs. Shoup was the mistress of Shoup Lodge. After the Shoups, the house was rented to various people but has been owned always by Elliott family ancestors. When Bishop Craik Morris of Louisiana retired he lived in the house for some years until his death in 1944. It was inherited from Mr. Robert W.B. Elliott by Mrs. Charles McD. Puckette, wife of a grandson of Bishop Stephen Elliott. The house was passed on to Mrs. Puckette’s daughter Isabelle Howe in 1979. In 2001, it was bought by a different Puckette, Emily, and her husband John Benson.
Square coffee table with glass top and three drawers
Matching upholstered footstool that accompanies the side chair.
Plaid covered Stickley side chair with matching foot stool
This house was built in August of 1887 for Mrs. Anna Lull. A couple of years later it was bought by Mrs. Emma C. Sutton. She was the mother of Mrs. Silas McBee, who died very young. Silas McBee was an architect of Walsh-Ellet Hall. Mrs. Sutton’s other daughter Mrs. Carter had also died young and left her daughter, Emma Sutton Carter, in her grandmother’s care. She and her husband were killed in a car accident. In 1930 the house caught fire and was rebuilt by its owner at the time J.F Gilbert. It is currently owned by the University and rented by various theologians.
This house was built across the road from the Sewanee Military Academy by a Dr. Vaughan of Mississippi. It was on the lot where Mrs. Jackson's house is now. Dr. Vaughan sold it in 1869 to a Mr. W. P. Redwood. From then on it was known as the Redwood House, despite his only living there for a short amount of time. General Gorgas, Dr. Shoup, and Professor Dabney and his large family were some of the people who lived in it. “Mrs. Dabney is a large, handsome, loud voiced, kind-hearted, tactless, managing woman... Professor Dabney, a dear, delightful, abstracted, over run, learned, entertaining, over-worked man, delicate, refined, and venerable looking, although only 38.” – Sarah Barnwell Elliot to her brother. Dr. Dabney died there in 1876. The University Record says in May, 1875, "Professor Dabney and family have moved into the Redwood House." This house was noteworthy for being the place where Sewanee's first ghost was seen or rather felt. Two eligible bachelors, Major E.A. Green, Commandant of the Battalion and Charles Beckwith, Headmaster of the Grammar School, later Bishop of Alabama, used to walk to Proctor's Hall in the evening and they claimed that before they reached Redwood House an unseen companion would join them and walk along with them but would leave them always at Redwood Gate. It became known as the ghost of the Professor, the professor being of course Professor Dabney. He was the first member of the faculty to die on the Mountain, buried in the Sewanee Cemetery. Mr. Harry Easter wrote that Redwood was abandoned and dilapidated by 1877. It later on burned.
All photographs are the property of the University of the South Archives and Special Collections Department
Decorative coal bin that was originally housed in Rebel's Rest. Blue floral motif.
This house was first built by Richard Biddle in 1900. When it burst into flames in 1904, Mr. Biddle barred anyone from trying to save the house. It is said that he blocked the entry with his body and, brandishing a chair, threatened to hit anyone who attempted to interfere with the fated destruction of his property, which he deemed “kismet.” Mr. Biddle was considered eccentric and dubbed Sewanee’s man of mystery. After the fire he built a shack in the woods northwest of Sewanee. The house on Oklahoma Avenue was rebuilt in 1912 by Douglass Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn, a member of the fledgling municipal government for the University, later became the University treasurer. In 1914 the house was bought by David A. Shepard. Shepard was the first salaried alumni secretary of the University, serving from 1912-1920. During Bishop Knight’s tenure as vice-chancellor (1914-1922), most of the official entertainment for the University was done in the Shepard home because the bishop’s wife was considered an invalid. The spare room had to be ready for overnight guests or weekend visitors, and when VIPs were expected, the alumni secretary was home to receive them. These weekly visitors were likely the reason for the many additions to the once modest cottage. By the eighth addition the Shepards started to call the house “Topsy” after the famous character in Uncle Tom’s Cabin because the house just grew. For example, although it had been constructed of hand-hewn timber, in 1945 it was encased in stone to prevent future fires. After his time as alumni secretary, Mr. Shepard continued to make Sewanee his base of operations and ran several businesses from an office located in the back of the home. The house was passed on to Mary Waller Shepherd Soper and her husband Rev. Soper when he retired from the Episcopal priesthood in 1962. It was during their time that Topsy reached a total of nineteen additions to the house since its construction. The Sopers fittingly named their addition “Turvey.” The numerous additions have caused some quirks in the house, such as different floor levels and an unusual architectural montage at the back. But the additions are part of its charm. The Sopers hosted many of their own exhibits on the house and it was included in multiple historic house tours. The house is owned by Martin and Katherine Davis as of 2013.
Train Depot with People at establishment
Symbolically, this house is one of the most important of Sewanee’s early buildings. The building was named for the Rev. Francis Tremlett, an English clergyman, who hosted and assisted Bishop Quintard on his trip to England in 1867 to raise money to open the University. With the funds raised on that trip, Bishop Quintard was able to construct this building—the first boardinghouse for students at University Place. Built on the site of Mrs. Gass’ house, Tremlett Hall was a small dormitory holding 42 students. Constructed in the summer of 1868 at Rowe (Polk) spring—the spring itself was also renamed Tremlett Spring in honor of the Rev. Tremlett. The hall was described as a sturdy, blockish building of massed plan and two stories tall. In 1870, a four-room and a two-room cottage added to the yard. In 1897, Tremlett was remodeled and opened as a boarding house for the medical students. The charge for board was 12 dollars per month. It functioned for two seasons. Tremlett Hall was for many years the domain of Miss Fannie M. Preston, the most famous of all Sewanee's matrons. She was known for her regal and quiet demeanor. She left Tremlett to look after old Hoffman when it was built in 1899. Tremlett Hall was razed in 1916 by the University.
Two Stickley straight back chairs with side table and lamp
This house was on the site of Benedict Hall. R.W.B Elliott is the first name on the lease and he may have built it. Mr M.M. Benton, who was a Proctor-a salaried position for an in the early days lived there. First Mrs A.C. Hall, a friend of Mrs. Sessums, from New Orleans bought it in 1897 and owned it about 10 year. The person who lived there longest, was Charles Underwood, an alumnus of 1903, who was Commisioner of Bldgs. & Lands from 1922 to 1948 and Secretary to the Vice Chancellor from 1922 to 1938. He died in 1948 and after his death it was rented to various people for a few years. It was pulled down when Benedict Hall was built in 1963. Charlotte Gailor's account
University of the South Chancellor and Alabama Bishop Charles C.J. Carpenter with Vice Chancellor Edward McCrady
Untitled (Sketch of two people sleeping)
In the mid-1880s William Walter Van Ness built a large three-story hall. It functioned as a boarding house and included apartments for faculty and staff. After his death the house passed to his wife, Mary Waters Van Ness. She was quite a recluse but occasionally came out and walked down the street with her feet wrapped in tow sacks and carrying a Sewanee lantern, a staff, and wearing a long black veil. She was called the “Witch of Endor” by the students. During this time the house was run by Mrs. Emma Blanton Tucker. After Mrs. Tucker’s death in 1909, her daughter Miss Johnnie Tucker managed the boarding house. The Van Ness family owned the boarding house for over half a century, but in the wake of the Depression the University purchased the building. They divided it into apartments for married students. In 1963 the boarding house was torn down to make way for the duPont library.
This house stood on the west side of University Avenue where the Corley house is now, next to Tuckaway. It was built by Mrs. Field Dunbar. The September 1873, University Record noted, "Mrs. Dunbar's handsome cottage home has been completed." It was called "Sleepy Hollow" at one time. The next year she opened a school, the first one for the children of the University families. "All branches of a female education carefully taught with French and Music; for girls with a few small boys," says her advertisement in the University Record in June 1873. “Through the mists of memory come glimpses of Mrs. Dunbar and her school: glimpses only, for the writer was one of a row of tiny girls (amid a small sprinkling of boys) who, in white, ruffled aprons, and high buttoned boots, sat on the bench in that awful spelling class, a special bane!... Mrs. Dunbar herself was a very vivid personality; a plump and pretty little woman, with grey hair, very rosy cheeks, and a very determined manner. Everything about her spoke of law and order, from her sheet white collar and cuffs, over her black widow's dress, to the piano legs (very large legs) which were encased in brown Holland bloomers, so that small feet, in practicing, would not scratch of deface them. Her schoolroom was kept in perfect order--and when she wrote on the blackboard she wore deep cuffs of brown paper to protect her sleeves." (Purple Sewanee, page 51) The Lovells, DuBoses, and Fairbanks all sent their daughters to Mrs. Dunbar’s school. Her own daughter, Miss Virgie, married the Reverend Stewart McQueen who went to St. Luke's and was a Trustee for many years. Her son, Richard Field Dunbar entered college in 1870.
This house stood where the west wing of Gailor Hall is now. It was built by Dr. Richardson on the lease in his wife's name, Sally Richardson. Dr. Richardson was a pharmacist and was called doctor by everybody. He ran a soft drink shop in part of his house and would keep it open at night after dances. It was very popular with the students despite a rumor he had fished a kitten out of the oyster stew one night. Ely Green’s mother worked for the Richardsons and lived in the back of the house, as Green wrote about in his book, Ely: too Black, Too White. The house was next bought by Frank Lautzenheiser, a Swiss from Guetli. He was employed by the University and noted for the tubs of blue morning glories he planted on the campus. In 1917, Mrs. Florence Alexander Brown purchased the house when she and her daughter, Florence Lewis, came to Sewanee. They lived here until they bought Mrs. Cotten's house in 1922. Mrs. Fannie Kirby-Smith Wade bought the house in 1922 and owned it until her death. It then was purchased by the University and razed in 1953 when Gailor Hall was built.
The one-story Ward House is one of two Sears Roebuck Houses on Virginia Avenue. Mrs. Andrew Moore was initially the creator of the house but owners, Albin Thompson and Lillian Thompson llived in he house in the 1950s and 1960s before selling it to Thomas and Carolyn Ward in 1967. The Wards still are owners of this dwelling as of 2018..
In the very early years of the University there were several instances of Confederate widows who moved to Sewanee in order to afford putting their sons through school at the University. One such case was Mrs. Mary Dunbar. In 1873 she took out a university lease for a property on Tennessee Avenue and built an ell-shaped, three-room house for herself and her sons. Mrs. Dunbar ran an elementary school primarily for young girls in one of the outbuildings of the old Sewanee Inn (present day location of Elliott Hall). Mrs. Dunbar eventually bought the little building, had moved across the street and attached to the back of her house. It is unclear if she continued to run her school there . One can still see these structural connections in both the basement and the attic of the house. When the Dunbar sons moved away, they sold the house to the University. It then became a fraternity house for the medical school, whose members opened a big double door between the front and back rooms on the left side. In 1909, when the medical school closed, and the house was bought by a dentist, J. P. Corley. The dentist made the original main room (front of the house on the north side) into his office, using the bay window for maximum light around the dental chair. His patients entered by a staircase and small porch on the north side and the room’s old back porch became an entrance hall and waiting room. During WWII Corley’s family left Sewanee. The house was then a rental property and went into a long, slow decline with occupancy changing constantly until Waring McCrady, son of Vice Chancellor McCrady, bought it in 1972. W. McCrady, personal communication, June 6, 2017
The Mountain News of April 22, 1879 reported, "Miss [Annie] Gibson is to have a residence built on what is known as the ‘Shaller lot’ West End is improving.” Mr. Shaller's name was on the lease in 1875, but evidently he never built on the lot. The Gibson family seems to have had the lease until 1906 when the dean of the Medical School, Dr. John S. Cain, bought the house. At the same time, Dr. Cain purchased the house next door (the Weber house). Dr. Cain’s son-in-law, Dr. Hayden West, had his office in this house and the West family lived in the other. Dr. West died in 1916. When a fire destroyed the Weber house in 1917, Mrs. West moved into the Webb house and lived there until her death in 1944. For a while during the early twenties, this was the chapter house of the Academy's Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Fraternity. The Webb family purchased the house in 1948; P.H. Waring Webb was a professor of botany at the University. The following year Webb died suddenly of polio, just before the birth of their fifth child. His widow, Maria Tucker Webb, continued to live in the house until the children were grown. Maria was Sewanne Military Academy’s nurse for more than 25 years and was also night nurse at Emerald-Hodgson hospital for many years. In 1967 her generous gift to the Woods Laboratories provided its green-house, a memorial to her husband, professor Paul Hamilton Waring Webb. Over the years, the house grew with the family. In 1973 Maria moved into a smaller house and sold this one to Percy Warner Frazer who used it as a summer house for many years.
Cravens-Watkins House, affectionately known as “Arcadia,” first belonged to Miss Sallie Milhado. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, Miss Sallie operated Arcadia as a boardinghouse. It was also where she raised her sister’s children—who called her “Lallie Miladdie.” She was described as unique, and remembered for her mint juleps, squirrel tail hat, fear of thunderstorms, and her horse Maud. One day when Miss Sallie was riding with Miss Mooney in a carriage drawn by Maud, a thunderstorm developed. In Miss Sallie’s rush to reach safety at home, Miss Mooney fell out and was left by the roadside. Another story about Miss Sallie involved President Woodrow Wilson. One of her boarders, Cary Grayson, arranged for her to meet the President while she was in Washington, DC. Although Grayson cautioned her to be dignified, it is reported that when ushered in, Miss Sallie clapped the President on the back and said, “I’m glad to see you, old top!” Duval and Florence Cravens and their family were the next residents of Arcadia. Duval Cravens was superintendent of the Sewanee Military Academy and had previously lived in seven different houses across the Mountain. Florence Cravens had a talent for gardening and playing hostess so settling in Arcadia was a dream come true as her daughter recalled: “The greatest day was when Mother and Dad bought Arcadia. Everyone else thought that they had lost their minds (possibly even Dad). The house had belonged to Miss Sallie Milhado, and as children we had spent time with her. She rode horseback sidesaddle, smoked, and she also killed rattlesnakes. During storms however she would hide in a closet or under a bed, taking us with her. When we moved to Arcadia, Mother was finally happy with the size of her dining room. Some of our most vivid memories are of the dinner parties that our parents had for friends, both on and off the Mountain. Like all the ladies in Sewanee, she entertained visiting parents, trustees, and regents.” – Virginia “Sis” Cravens Ravenel Paine After Mrs. Cravens’ death in 1978, the Watkins family owned the house until 2016 when an Episcopal priest purchased it.
This house stood on the lot now occupied by Colonel Dudley's house, opposite the Sewanee Military Academy. Reverend Harvey O. Judd built the house in 1871. Harvey and his family were a staple of early Sewanee and Winchester life. When the Judds moved to Sewanee in 1859, Harvey went to the University and built a "Steam Laundry" near Mr. Hayes' mill in the village. Both he and his younger brother, the famous Spencer Judd, were photographers for the area. During the Civil War Harvey closed his gallery and went to Talladega, Alabama, where he made gun caps and bullets for the C. S. A. After the war he reopened his gallery and continued work until deciding to become an Episcopal clergyman. He built this house during this time and sold it in 1872 to eventually become Reverend at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Macon, Georgia. “He is a divinity student, was once on the stage. His manner is a little tragic but he is good and self-sacrificing. He has a nice little wife and pretty daughter, like little Phoebe.” – Sarah Barnwell Elliot to her brother. In 1873, Mr. William F. Graham, the director of the Chapel Choir, also of a "Cornet Band", bought the house. John Walker Weber who entered college in 1872 and later taught penmanship, was made temporary Headmaster of the Sewanee Military Academy, in 1880. His mother, Mrs. Henri Weber had the lease in 1884 and lived here after he left in 1889. In 1893 Dr. John S. Cain of Nashville became Dean of the Medical School and lived here with his daughter and son-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Hayden West, until it burned in 1917. This fire was a real social event with all the ladies presiding over piles of china and household goods in the yard, while Dr. Cain, who was a little confused, threw all sorts of things out of the windows. Colonel and Mrs. Garland built the present house in 1938.
This house stood opposite Palmetto on the hill and was a large frame house, one of many built originally by Mr. Hayes. It was east of the present Gailor Hall and situated facing west. Dr. C. L. C. Minor, who was master of Grammar School and professor of Latin, was the first resident, however he left in 1873 to become president of Virginia Agricultural College. In 1876 Col. A. S. Jones acquired the house and lived there for about ten years. He held various offices in the University including Treasurer. In 1886 Mrs. M.C. Wicks obtained the lease and for many years ran a boarding house for students and summer visitors. She had two sons and two daughters. One daughter, Miss Celeste, continued to live in the house, even during its time as the Mary Dabney School. Miss Celeste moved to small cottage nearby a few years before her death in 1947. Wick’s Hall was razed in 1945.
Dr. C.J. Bickham, a well-known physician of New Orleans, built this house in 1874. Although he intended it to be a summer home, it sat empty for many years. Caskie Harrison, professor of ancient languages, took the house in 1877 and lived there until he left the University in 1882. Originally from Virginia, he was studying in Cambridge when Bishop Quintard persuaded him to come to Sewanee. Harrison’s son, the novelist Henry Sydnor Harrison, author of Queed, was born in this house and another son, Jack, taught at the Sewanee Military Academy for several years. Harrison was reported to be a “severe but brilliant teacher” and when he left Sewanee he founded the Brooklyn Classical School in New York. In 1889 he received the Honorary Degree of Ph.D. from the University. After Harrison’s departure, various people lived in the house including Mrs. Memminger, a widow from Charleston, whose three sons, Wilkie, Lucien, and Edmund, went to the University from 1893-1898. In 1894 William Boone Nauts, who graduated from the University in 1882 and was professor of Latin from 1893-1931, bought the house and lived in it until his death in 1931. Both of his sons also went to the University. Nauts, an ardent collector of materials printed in Sewanee, sent his collection to be on exhibit at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Unfortunately it was all lost in transit. However, he was able to later compile another collection, with only a few exceptions. After his death Mrs. Nauts gave the materials to the University Archives. Nauts was a part of Sewanee life for so many years that someone once joked, “In the flood, Noah just missed landing on the Mountain with Nauts and MacKellar.” During the 1930s, the house was rented to various people. When the old "rectory" burned in 1939, Misses May and Susie DuBose bought the house. After Miss May’s death, the University bought it and in 1964 it was sold to Harry Stanford Barrett, artist-in-residence. The house has been owned by Doug and Anne Seiters since 1999.
Oak chair with spindle legs and decorative backing