Virtual Tour

This two-room brick structure is constructed entirely of handmade brick. It was originally part of the estate of Cherokee sub-chief David Vann and is believed to have been built in the early 1800s. It is referred to by previous owners and in other sources as the “Cherokee Kitchen” due to its association with David Vann.

During the early to mid-1800s, it was not uncommon for the kitchen or cookhouse to be a separate structure. Separating the building from the main house reduced the amount of heat, noise and odor inside the residence and also mitigated the risk of fire.

The brick-floored room in the cookhouse has a large fireplace and an oven. The second room also has a fireplace but the floor is dirt. It is unknown if the second room was a pantry, the cook’s residence or perhaps even used for laundry as was the case with similar structures on other plantations.

The room currently used as the dining room has been used as a living and a bedroom in more recent years. The original use of this room is unknown.

The room has one of three first floor exterior doors and is the only room from which one of the second floor bedrooms can be accessed.

The walls have been painted several times over the years but the original faux bois finish is still evident on the doors. The substantial casings and baseboards seen throughout the house are on prominent display in this room.

The floor boards, made of heart pine, are more than an inch thick.

Accessible only by a steep set of stairs with no handrails, the “secret” room is isolated from the rest of the living quarters. It is not known if this room was originally a nursery or bachelor’s quarters or served some other function. It is currently used as a storage room.

The original use of this room is unknown. At some point, it was converted to a kitchen and is the only room in the original structure with running water. Though “modern” relative to the rest of the house, most of the kitchen appliances are now antique as well. The Kitchenaid Hobart dates to c. 1971 and still works. The range/oven, electric water heater and a refrigerator on the back porch are believed to be in the same age range and all are functional.

The kitchen also features the only original closet in the house. A rear panel and shelves were added to the closet at some point. The original paint color is visible in the space behind the addition.

The original purpose of this room is unknown. As the warming kitchen is located directly below, the room possibly served as a dining room during the early days of the house.

The past few owners have used the room as a master bedroom. The closets are a 20th century addition. A previous owner also constructed a wall in the hallway to separate this room and the kitchen from the rest of the house. That owner painted over the hallway frescoes in the process which is why the frescoes abruptly end. The wall was removed in 2008.

Originally, the basement opened to the back of the house directly across from the cookhouse. According to a previous owner, a brick walkway connected the two buildings. A former neighbor recounted visiting the house as a child and being told the two buildings were connected by a tunnel and the basement was used as a holding room for food.

Another door in the basement provides access to a dirt cellar. It is unknown if this was used as a root cellar or for some other function.

The basement also features an eight-pointed star design in the center of the floor. The eight-pointed star is significant in many religions, cultures and even Freemasonry.

Unlike the other upstairs bedrooms, this room was modified with a closet on the left side of the fireplace. The walls and fireplace have been painted several times over the years. Though any signs of frescoes or faux marbling on the fireplace have been obscured, the faux finish on the door remains. The artist used a technique known as faux bois (from the French for false wood) to simulate the appearance of raised panels where there are none. The artist also added grain lines to simulate a higher quality wood. Most of the doors in the house (perhaps all at one point) were painted with this technique.

The house is a four up, four down design with a central hallway on both floors. Originally, the rear door opened directly to the outside of the house. Upstairs, a front door opens onto what was once a covered balcony. In the warmer months, opening the windows and doors of this central hallway would have helped cool the house.

The walls—upstairs and down—with the exception of the area once closed off by a previous owner, are decorated with frescoes in shades of green, lavender and burgundy. The central hallway also showcases the substantial casing and baseboard used throughout the house. 

The stairs, which feature hand-carved scrollwork, connect three of the upstairs bedrooms with the main floor. The fourth bedroom is only accessible by a staircase leading off the dining room.

The walls in this bedroom are painted to appear as if they have raised panels. The blue highlights include several shades of blue and the artist also used a bold burgundy shade along the top of the walls. The fireplace features a faux marble finish which is faded but still visible upon close examination.

On the wall to the right of the fireplace, someone wrote “Mr. Campbell went home July 16, 1896.” It is not known who Mr. Campbell was.

The pink bedroom is one of only four spaces in the house in which the frescoes are still visible. Painted with striking shades of pink, the frescoes are a more geometric, angular pattern than what was used in the other areas.

In the 1950s, the house sustained damage from a tornado. This storm destroyed the second floor roof of the porch and caused significant damage to the frescoes in this room. 

The faux marbling done on the fireplace is faded yet still visible. The doors feature the faux bois technique used in other areas of the home.

The most elaborate frescoes, including an ornate religious motif over the doorway, are in the parlor. The artist used shades of blue, purple and pale green to create the faux panels, each with gold leaf scrolls near the top of the panel and gold leaf lines in the center of the panels. The faux crown moulding is accented with a bold pink color which is most visible above the fireplace. The artist used gold paint to simulate dentil moulding in the actual crown moulding.

The board and batten ceiling was painted in shades of pale purple and accented with gold leaf. The fireplace was also painted a pale purple and then decorated with the faux marbling technique seen in other rooms.

The centerpiece of the religious motif above the door is a budded cross which is associated with several religions and also used in heraldry. William S. Simmons was involved with the Methodist Episcopal Church in Vann’s Valley, however it is not known if he or a subsequent owner commissioned the art.