History:
This house was the first to be built (early 50s) in an area known at the time as Holston Heights, now known as Holston Hills. At the time, this was an exclusive neighborhood meant for the doctors and lawyers who could afford cars, and could drive to Knoxville on a daily basis. At the time, this neighborhood was outside the city limits and the area is still, from a postal standpoint, known as Burlington. Strangely, no one knows why or how this area got that name. Chances are that someone with the last name Burlington owned a plantation which took up a huge chunk of the land. That would be my immediate guess. The second would be perhaps the name of a high ranking military guy during the Civil War. Beyond that, I got nothing.
The home was finished and purchased in 1952. It is a basement ranch style house. In total, there is 3050 square feet, 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a 2-car garage, 7/8 acre of land, fenced in back yard and custom built back patio. I would loved to have seen this place when it was new.
There are features in here that I will certainly miss: A couple of closets have lights which automatically turn on when the door is opened, most light switches (even in the basement) have one switch in the middle which turns on the hallway lights, upstairs. There is a full-sized attic fan, the dining room and one of the bedrooms have walls made of one foot tongue-in-groove Ponderosa Pine, and they're gorgeous. Also, the fireplace mantle is not made out of brick, but rather out of stone...HUGE pieces of stone. Beautiful.
Other history, quite important: This home was purchased in August, 1968, by a black couple. He worked at Alcoa Aluminum, and she at TVA. In those days, it didn't matter. They were black and the neighbors didn't like it one bit. I have no idea how many stayed or went because of it. During the 70s and part of the 80s, the basement was used as a hidden battered women's shelter. One of the neighbors told me about it, several years ago. That finally explained why every column in the basement has a 220 volt plug in outlet (heaters), and why there used to be 3 separate phone lines down there as well. I found several photos, after Jack and I bought this place, and no one claimed to know who any of the people in the photos were. After the former lady of the house passed away (her husband died years earlier), someone finally came forward and identified who all is in them and asked me to dispose of the photos because of privacy issues and/or the former battered women were still afraid of someone giving away what my basement was used for.
Since the lady of the house worked for TVA, her electricity bill was free....and I could tell. The first bill which came here, but was meant for her, was almost $480.00 and I almost fainted. I wanted to know why the bill was so high and one of Jack's nephews figured it out; This house also has a device called "Ceil Heat", which consists of 2 sheets of sheetrock and 1 long wire snaked back and forth between them, and every ceiling upstairs has a separate 'thermostat', with a main control switch in the hallway. I thought all of that was turned off, but we discovered that it had been on 86 degrees...............for 32 years! Of course, this was after we had closed on the house, etc. (Hey....even the best appraiser/inspector can't catch it all).
When we moved in here, June 2000, the average temperature in the house was 77 degrees. Upon disconnecting the Ceil Heat and running the central air, day and night for what seemed almost constantly, it took about 3 weeks for the entire house to cool down to where it should've been the entire time. Then, the upstairs began to settle...and did it ever. That took a little over a year, but it finally finished.
Then came a small earthquake which hit around Sevierville in either 2001 or 2002. The aftershock came straight through this neighborhood and rocked our bed like a boat on the water. I actually thought someone backed a truck into the corner of the house, and ran outside to see what was going on. Of course, nothing but nature.
Roll the clock forward about 7-8 years and one day, I caught a whiff of something in the basement....a faint but pungent odor of mildew, which normally means water. It took a while to find the source, but finally it was located in part of the foundation. We called our insurer and attempted to file a claim, before it could get worse. The insurer would not cover it under 'Acts Of God' because we didn't immediately file after the quake happened. Now, the main drainage pipe which leads out of the house is broken and a huge slab of the driveway is sunk about 4 inches lower than the rest, which is now cracked all the way across.
Foundation damage, when not repaired, will only grow into a much bigger problem ranging from drain pipes to gutters, to walls and ceilings, windows, mega etc. Because contractors built these homes to last, I'm probably lucky that the only damage is to the ceilings (cracked all the way across), and several cracks in the sheetrock along the windows....not in every room, but in enough.
Before Jack became so sick and had to be hospitalized for the last time, we were beginning to look at other houses which are now either taken, or I can't afford them. It will be renting for me, and probably for a very long time. Yes, there was a life insurance policy....but I did mention on another post that Jack's ex (Ron) bankrupted him during the 90s. Had it not been for that, who knows the shape I would be in now? But, it wasn't meant to be. I will trudge along as I do, all considered.
Anyway, that's the basic (and interesting) 'skinny' of this ol' house. I'm gonna miss it when I leave, but I know it will be for the better. Somewhere in the future, there has to be something better.
A while back, my scanner software took a crap and there is no generic substitute. I don't own a digital camera, either. So for now, all you get to see is a corner of the hearth. When I get a new scanner, I'll upload some photos and delete this section of the message. For now, the hearth will have to do.
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