Saturday, June 30, 2012

Historic House Tour

This morning, Hubby and I toured the historic 1818 John Bowman house, just down the road from us. The house was moved from it's original site, several miles west of here, and now sits proudly on the corner of the Bowman property. The homestead was built on 2,700 acres of land given to John by Cherokee chief, Major Ridge.




Each year, the Bowmans host an open house to share the history of one of the oldest homes in the area. 

The style is Plantation Plain, with two verandas on the front and a porch on the back.
There are so many neat details in this four room log home...


...huge stone steps flanked by hydrangeas on either side...


... I love the simple decoration above the picture...oops, sorry you can see my reflection.


You can see the owners have loving decorated the rooms in the primitive style of the 1800s.


This large multipurpose room is used as a kitchen, dining area, and  a place for the spinning wheel.


The tables are so charming, with green chippy paint...I apologize for the quality of the photos. I kept hurriedly snapping pics, trying not to get the visitors in the shots.


I like this white china display over the kitchen fireplace...


...there are two upstairs bedrooms... this one is decorated as a child's room with a little table, chair and tea set, to the left of the bed.  


In the bedroom across the hall, is a beautiful cradle, with a hand made coverlet and little rag rug beside it...


...the back porch is set up with a small table and chair for visitors to sign the guest book...


...if you need a cool drink of water, the well bucket and dipper are handy. Actually, the Bowmans had a table under a huge, old oak tree, with refreshments for visitors. 


Afterwards, you might like to visit...  


...the "necessary".


Can you believe that 11 children were raised in this old house?


I hope you enjoyed the tour, and are having a great weekend.
Prayers for all who are in the paths of the fires in Colorado, and those with storms and power outages on the east coast.
Hugs and stay cool,
Babs


Please visit:
The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays





21 comments:

Cheri said...

I just visited your blog for the first time and I just loved this post. The house is so beautiful (if those walls could talk). Somushc history. Thanks for sharing.

FABBY'S LIVING said...

Loving this great old house..so adorable in it's primitive style and to think, they brought up 11 KIDS!!!..plus the 2 parents..wow, wow!! I bet they were so happy in their beautiful home! Thanks for sharing, I loved it! HAPPY 4TH. OF JULY 2012!
FABBY

Kim @ Savvy Southern Style said...

So funny that you blogged about this. Doug told me I should go and take pics for my blog, but it was just too darn hot.

for the love of a house said...

I adore the exterior- so wonderful! omg.. is that stair railing iron?? It is fabulous! Thanks for taking us along!
xojoan

The Tablescaper said...

So neat that you shared this tour with Seasonal Sundays.

- The Tablescaper

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh how fun, I love this old house. What a treat, thanks for the tour. Hugs, Marty

Unknown said...

I absolutely love this!!! I cant believe how many lives have passed through this house and how deep it is! :) Lovely!

Hugs,

Jojo said...

I love log cabins. The log cabin my dad and his 11 siblings grew up in still stands. Sometime in the 50s the family covered the cabin with some kind of exterior siding but underneath is the cabin. It had 5 for14 inhabitants! There is a picture from an old post http://jojos-joys.blogspot.com/2009/06/happy-fathers-day.html

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

Hi Babs! I saw that they were having an open house there, but couldn't stand the heat long enough to go by! Once when I was out antiquing I met the owner who mentioned that Andrew Jackson had slept there, too! Nor sure where they would have put him, though! lol Stay cool!...hugs...Debbie

Carlene @ Organized Clutter said...

I love nostalgia and looking back at the past. A lot of hard work went into a day back then, and NO air conditioning. How about that?

Unknown said...

Babs,

Thanks for sharing this lovely home. It's so beautiful. I love the way they have decorated it, so true to period.

Hope you have a wonderful week.

Kathy

Sarah said...

Babs, this looks like a fun place to visit. Thanks for sharing the information and the photos.
All the best for a beautiful Sunday. We actually had a bit of rain during the night. Nice here this morning. ~ sarah

Kelly said...

I THOUGHT that house looked familiar! I drive by it every time I go to my sisters house. ha! I didn't know that it was open for tours. How neat to finally see what it looks like inside and learn the history about it. Thanks for the tour!

Savannah Granny said...

Thanks for this tour of our past. This home is a testimony to the skill of our forefathers. It was definitely built to last.
I bet that white teapot, creamer and sugar would have been a cherished possession. The all purpose room is the forerunner of our "open concept". They were way ahead of us.
Thanks again and have a blessed Sunday,
Ginger

Alycia Nichols said...

Eleven children raised there?!??!! My husband and I feel like we're on top of each other in 3100 sq. ft....and it's just us!!!!! My, how spoiled we have become! For shame!!! :-) That's cool that you took so many photos of the inside and out to share! It really offers a fun (and realistic!) perspective!

Richard Cottrell said...

I love it. They had a hard life back then but this looks like a pretty nice home for the age. Richard from My old Historic House.

Shirley@Housepitality Designs said...

What a wonderful historic home...love the double porches on the front...cannot imagine that 11 people lived there at once!...Love old historic homes!

On Crooked Creek said...

Babs,
Great tour! It still amazes me how the Pioneer women lived and managed to keep body and soul together as they raised their families!!!
Fondly,
Pat

Unknown said...

Love your post Thanks for sharing Joann

Michele M./ Finch Rest said...

Thanks, Babs, this was a wonderful post- so awesome and fun to learn things like this.

Mr Paul said...

Another lovely post Babs, I love old house like this. It is incredible that 11 children were brought up there.

Paul