Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1893-03-02
THE GOOD OLD TIMES.
Surveyor, Land Baron and Slave
Dealer.
How General Taylor Lived in the Wa
tauga Valley.

| ONASNs~o eiS ioiioWihB iupCIcbtiuk
sketch of pioneer home in the fam
GUS Wataugavalley:
There is not a travel twice the
length of this country that affords the
tourist as much of real interest as the
narrow gauge running from johnson
City to Cranberry. For ten miles out
from johnson City it runs through the
farfamed Watauga valley, the cradle
of Western Civilization. The very at.
mosphere is redolent with the sacred
memories of the pioneers of Tennessee
the men who blazed out the pathway
to score of commonwealth.
Every mile is historic ground.
About four miles from Elizabethton,
there stands on knoll commanding
the view of Watauga valley for miles
IN either direction and of the noun
tains in the background, an old frame
house OF the style of the long ago, fast
going to decay. 1t reminds one of Poe g
House of Usher. with the vacant
windows and look of utter desolation.
In its day it was splendid mansion
and the envy of all the good, plain
people miles around. To gaze upon it
now it is to wonder why it was ever
built to be ruthlessly deserted and
abandoned. l visited the old house
one morning in early spring, as the
fields of Watanga were just showing
green and the trees just begun to leaf.
1T is lonley old place and one
would naturally suppose that it was
haunted, if there really is such a
thing as haunted house. The doors
are barred up and the only entrance
possible is through window in the ell.
In the front yard there remains
few shrubs and a single rose bush
which was putting forth single bud
when l visited the place. The front
door must have been considered an
elegant affair in its day, made up of
panels of heavy oak, with scroll work
facings. There is a wide hallway
with doors opening into rooms on
either side. 1t is easy enough to locate
the parlOr, an immense room with
wainscoted walls and frescoed ceiling.
The brass tipped andirons still remain
in the cavernous fireplace just as they
stood years ago when the last fire died
out in the old mansion. The family
or sitting room is finished in oak, with
closets and cupboards galore, and ad-
joins the dining room which is as large
as the ground floor of an ordinary cot
tage. There are cupboards and clos
ets set in the walls. Up stairs there
are four large bed chambers and
small room. In this small room |
found a baby's cradle and some toys
and one of those little spinning wheels
OF our grandmother's day that would
haveset the collector of antiquities wild.
In closet in the same room found
several leaves from an old ledger and
number of letters dating as far back
as 1915.
mo, there is no romance or tragedy
out of the usual order connected with
the old house. 1t was the home place
of General Nathaniel Taylor, one of
the earliest settlers of East Tennessee, and
the house, occupying the site of huge
log structure built in the earlier days,
was finished in 1891, few months be-
fore the Generals death.
General Taylor, who was civil en-
gineer and surveyor of national reputa-
tion, possessed at one time an estate
that would have put to shame the land
barons of the great West In fact at
one time he held in fee simple four
million of acres of land in East Tenn
essee, Western North Carolina, South
west Virginia and East Kentucky. |
His deeds covered all the valuable coal |
lands in Southwest Virginia, lands that |
today are worth millions of.dollars.
He sold it off to actual settlers and
'peculators, for there were real estate
'peculators even in those days. His
holding finally narrowed down to
princely estate in the Watauga valley.
He was man of sound judgement and
good taste, for what would man gain
f he owned the whole world and let
The Watagua valley slip through his
hands. 1t was from the estate or por-
ions of it that the Taylor family SO
ong prominent in public life in Tenn
'ssee, started. 1t was called Happy
Valley because there was always plenty
% eat and sunshine and pure atmos-
)here.
"Gen. Taylor probably knew nothing
If the value of the lands he held in
Virginia. There is a deed
If record in Dickson county, Va
from Gen. Taylor to John
Doe 10000 acres of fine land, the con-
'ideration being one bay horse of the
value of 800. He probably needed
The horse more than he did the land,
'or today it could not be bought for
81, 100000. Several of the largest
producing coal mines of the Pocahon.
'as districts are within the boundaries.
Nearly every square foot of the i'm
nense tract is underlaid with coal, the
vsins running from three to a eleven
'eet in thickness. The conveyance was
made early in the century.
"Gen Taylor was an extensive dealer
n slaves, owning his own vessel which