Historic Home Tour Part I

This past weekend I had the great fortune to participate in an historic home tour sponsored by our Smalltownland Arts Council. A lovely group of people who promote historic and artistic endeavors in our small, and incredibly historic, small town.

I have a few homes to share with you and will disperse them over several posts. But, I am going to start with my most favorite. It is the home I find to be the most, "real", of them all. Possibly the most loved by its owners and true in the sense that they work on the house themselves and take great pride in it. They have opened up their home countless time to share its history and architecture.

This house was built sometime between 1840-1850. To give that decade some perspective think about this.....during that time span Abraham Lincoln married Mary Todd. Edgar Allen Poe first published, "The Raven". Florida became the 27th state and rubber bands were patented. Queen Victoria married Prince Albert and Henry David Thoreau moved into his shack on Walden Pond.

Originally this farm was owned by Samuel Brents, who served as a state representative in 1803 and in some years after. He died in 1833 and was buried on this property. Mr. Thomas Waller Lisle was the executor of Mr. Brents' will and came into possesion of the home and farm. Lisle was an attorney and admitted to the bar in 1826. He was also the husband of Brents' daughter.

This structure is known as one of the best Greek Revival houses in the Smalltownland area. The house sits upon a hill overlooking a main road into Smalltownland from the south. It is incredibly striking and even as a small child I would gaze at it in awe as I passed it by on the road.

The interior trim is of a large scale and has been lovingly restored by its current owners, who inherited this house. Yes, it has been passed down through the family all of these years.

The windows are considered to be unusually expansive and have twelve-pane sashes.

Even the furniture in the house are family pieces that have been passed down. This platform rocker is one piece of a set that had been in the family for generations.



The truly favorite part of this house for me was the fact that it is still a work in progress. The upstairs central hallway is under some renovation and you can see a bit of wallpaper on the original plaster.



Not only do the owners take pride in the interior of the house, the grounds are just as lovely. This is a side view of the home with the sidewalk taking you to the front door.


It made me sad to leave, but oh the view...while I walked away with my head craned around to see it.....