Notable and Historical Homes of Halls

“Houses are really quite odd things. They have almost no universally defining qualities: they can be of practically any shape, incorporate virtually any material, be of almost any size. Yet wherever we go in the world we recognize domesticity the moment we see it.”
― Bill Bryson

How is the evolution of Halls homes like the Beverly Hillbillies? 

Both started with a family living in log cabin and over time progressed to a family living in a mansion that’s still standing to this day. 

In the very popular TV series that ran from 1962 until 1971, a poor family from the Ozarks in Missouri struck “black gold” and in just a few episodes moves to Beverly Hills into a real-life location known as the Chartwell Mansion.  The mansion, built in 1933, was a dizzying (for its time) 25,000 square feet with 11 bedrooms, a 40-car garage, and sits on ten manicured acres complete with a 75-foot pool, a 5,400 square foot guesthouse, fountains, and a tennis court.  At one time it was the most expensive house at $245 million dollars for sale in California. It sold in 2018 for $150 million dollars.

For the fictional Clampett’s their home evolved from a small cabin in the Ozarks to a historic home in Beverly Hills, California.

For the Halls Community, our home evolution took a little longer (over two centuries) when we went from the Thomas Hall cabin to our newest notable home, the DeBusk home.

When Thomas Hall moved here in the late 1700’s he built a log cabin on the land given to him for his service in the Revolutionary War.  The parcel consisted of 640 acres on the north side of Black Oak Ridge.  His cabin appears to have started as a single room with a loft and then later a two-story addition was completed.  Thomas and his wife Nancy had 11 children and they would have needed all the space.

Thomas Hall’s cabin no longer exists but Halls has at least 4 other log cabin structures still standing today. 

The Fate Irwin home on Brown Gap Road

The Irwin home appears to be at least 200 years old but this home is not original to Halls.  Two cabins, one from Hancock County, Tennessee and the other from Southwest Virginia were disassembled, moved and reassembled into one cabin in the 1960’s.

The Charles Nance home on Hill Road

The Whitson home on Norris Freeway.

The Bud Weaver Home on Miller Road.

From log cabins to frame homes

Over the next 100 years there was an evolution from logs homes to timber frame structures and then to frame homes.  With the invention of the steam engine, small sawmills began appearing in communities.  Early sawmills were portable, drawn by a team of horses or mules, traveling to the location of the wood to be milled.  Eventually some mills became permanent structures like Tindell’s.  We have a few pictures of early sawmills in the Halls Community.  These early mills allowed frame homes to move into more elaborate structures.   

The Pulaski Hall / A.I. Smith Home

When Pulaski Hall returned to Halls after living in Oregon for several years, he bought a home from Dr. Burt Mynatt and built a store at the home of Andersonville Pike and Emory Rd.  His home and store at the junction of two main roads is the reason we are called Halls Crossroads.  The house is rumored to have served as officers headquarters for both the Union and Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Pulaski’s home was also notable for its size.  It was rumored to have at least six bedrooms.

Pulaski Hall and his wife did not have children of their own but raised a young lady named Mattie Dew who later married A.I. Smith, the owner of Avondale Dairy.

Mattie and A.I. lived in the house until it was torn down in the 1920’s. 

The A.I. Smith Home

A.I and Mattie moved to a large red brick home set back off Maynardville Highway and surrounded by large maple trees where Northside Plaza Shopping Center now stands.  The house was moved to Seeber Drive in Halls Heights in 1973.

The James M. McCloud Home

Around the same time as Thomas Hall settled on the north side of Black Oak Ridge, James Madison McCloud moved to Knox County from Washington County (around 1800).  Like Thomas Hall, McCloud was given a land grant for services rendered in the Revolutionary War. His grant extended from the top of Beaver Ridge to the top of Copper Ridge and to the north of Jacksboro Pike.  His home was on Andersonville Pike at McCloud Rd.

The Crippen Homes

Another group of early families in Halls were the Crippens.  Where the buffalo trail cut across Black Oak Ridge, the trail became Jacksboro Pike and later Maynardville Highway. 

James Franklin Crippen

At the bottom of the ridge sat a big Oak Tree and the home of James Franklin Crippen and his wife, Sarah George Crippen.   The gap became known as Crippen Gap.  Farmers would drive their wagons to this area to camp for the night before leaving early the next morning for the Market House in Knoxville to sell their produce. Later the house became the Frolic Inn. The house burned in the 1950’s.

Val Crippen

Val Crippen lived in a home on Maynardville Hwy. where Black Oak Plaza is now located.  He ran for Knox County Sherriff in 1934.  The house was moved and now sits on Cunningham Rd. across from Hallsdale Powell Utility Company.

George Crippen

Maggie French and George W. Crippen built a house on Emory Rd in the early 1900s.  The house sat at the back of the property with a long drive to the house with a barn on the left.  It was demolished and the land was developed into Royal Springs.

Fate Tindell Home

Another home built around 1860 was the Fate Tindell home.  Located on McCloud Rd. it is one of the survivors.  Fate Tindell is shown standing in the picture of the house below.  His son Francis, who ran the sawmill after his father, is the second child to the right in the center of the picture.

Here is the house today.

The Smith Peterson Home

The Smith Peterson home stood at the corner of Andersonville Pike and Griffith Rd.  Smith was born in 1888 and this house was built around 1900.  Note the 4 lighting rods extending from the roof. In the picture below we see from left to right Smith Peterson, Ruth Peterson, Della Peterson holding Ruby and Dossie Graybeal Peterson and Oscar Peterson.

The house was remodeled over time but was eventually demolished.  Here is a picture taken in July 1990.

The Thomas Hunter Home

The Thomas Hunter home stood on Old Maynardville Hwy.  It is also a survivor still standing today. This is another home built by Fate Tindell around 1890.

The Ledgerwood-Smith House

This home originally belonged to Civil War Captain M.L. (Washington/William) Ledgerwood who also had the nickname “Red”.  Situated on a hill, the home was part of a large mule farm.  It was built in 1898 with a tremendous view across the valley.  The Jake Smith family lived in the house beginning in 1941. 

This house was also built by Fate Tindell.

The farm was cut into two pieces when  “New” Maynardville Highway was built.  Eventually the property was sold for development and the house was moved down the hill and burned by Rural Metro Fire Department in 1992.  The property is now the Ledgerwood Square development.

The Shannon Brady Home

Another home built around the 1900’s was the Shannon Brady home.  Situated on West Raccoon Valley Rd it is still standing today.  Recently purchased and remodeled it is a happy example of preservation and restoration.

Wanda Brady Elkins, shown in the photo below, shared 2 photos of the home with the following information:

Picture of Margaret Isabelle Brady taken July 15, 1967 at her 80^th birthday party. Born July 13, 1887 and died January 9, 1989 at the age of 101.  She moved into the Shannon Brady house in 1895 when she was 8 years old.

The Ernest Mynatt Home

A landmark in its time was the Ernest Mynatt home.  Located at the corner of Andersonville Pike and Emory Rd., the house was part of a land swap between Beaver Dam Baptist Church and Mr. Mynatt.  At one time the home also served as a funeral parlor beginning the tradition of Mynatt’s Funeral Home.  Mynatt’s moved their business to Fountain City but returned to Halls building on the opposite corner where the Pulaski Hall/Smith house once stood.

The Harrell Home

The Harrell home is located on McCloud Road at Harrell Lane.  It was built by Fate Tindell about the same time as the Hunter home. It is still standing today.

The Gatewood Hall Home

The Gatewood Hall home was built in 1922 on Andersonville Pike.  Ironically the home of the first Halls Consolidated School Principal was demolished and the property is now the current Halls Elementary School location.

The Masters/Crawley Home

David Master’s home on Andersonville Pike was built in 1923 for $2,500.  It is one of the few homes in Halls that remain standing today without major exterior modifications. 

Farming in the Halls Crossroads community in the early 1900s was the way of life.  The average size of the farms was 75 acres and homes averaged 5 rooms without indoor plumbing.  Major land uses were pastures, hay, grain, tobacco, strawberries, vegetables, eggs, butter, milk and fruit.

A few of those farms were captured in photographs before they were sold, subdivided or demolished.  They include:

The Cliff Sowder Farm

Located on Andersonville Pike, the Cliff Sowder home was built in 1908.  The farm was a dairy for many years.  In the 1990’s the farm was sold and developed.  Today Elmcroft/American Home and the former St. Mary’s Residential Hospice occupy the property.

The Walter Coomer Farm

The Walter Coomer farm was another dairy.  This picture is from 1947.

The Edmondson Farms

Four brothers owned most of the valley from the big curve on Emory Rd. to Dry Gap Pike.  Howard Edmondson owned the easternmost farm in the curve.  Further down, Sterling Edmondson owned the farm at Emory Road at Dry Gap shown below.  Much of that property is now the Brickey/McCloud Elementary School.  Another brother, Verlin, owned property on Bishop Road.  Walter Edmondson also owned property on Emory Road between Howard and Sterling. 

Walter Edmondson was the father of Cleo, who later married D.L. Lakin. He was the principal of Halls High in the 1950s.  Part of the property passed from Cleo and DL to their daughter Linda.  Linda and Dwight Hart own the farm that is still there today.

Over the next 50 years, Halls experienced tremendous growth.  Many farm properties were sold and subdivided to create new homes for the great influx of folks moving to Halls.  All types of housing were beginning to appear including apartments and mobile home parks.  Properties along major thoroughfares were developed for commercial uses.   For example, the A.I. Smith / Avondale Dairy property became the site of the Walmart shopping center as well as the Aldi shopping center. 

In the 1980’s and 1990’s Halls saw the beginnings of large residential or estate sized properties.  The most notable among those was the DeBusk Home.  In the early days just after the home was completed, folks driving down Cunningham Road would nearly wreck, rubbernecking at the size and beauty of the house.  Still today, the home sitting on a rise will cause folks unfamiliar with Halls to “slow down and take a peak”.

The Debusk Home

Built over a period of nearly 10 years,   the A.O. (Pete) DeBusk home is one of the largest homes in Tennessee and in the top 100 homes of the U.S. as a whole.  Situated on nearly 25 acres, the former Cox and Black properties, the home contains around 37,000 square feet with an additional 10,000 square foot guest house. The main house contains 9 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.  The guest house has an additional 3 bedrooms. In comparison to the Beverly Hillbillies mansion, this home is nearly 50% larger and with a guest house that is double in size. Luckily they both have “cement ponds.”

Hopefully when someone writes about Halls homes in a hundred years, this one will still be the ”Grande Dame” of the community.

We hope you enjoyed this tour of Halls homes, small and large, humble and grand.  Please consider historic preservation if you have the opportunity to save a house from destruction or demolition.