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Sabine Hill, also known as Happy Valley, Watauga Point, and the General Nathaniel Taylor House, is a historic house in Elizabethton, Tennessee. The two-story Federal style building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1973. It is an excellent example of federal architecture. It was threatened by demolition in 2007 when the owners sought to have the property rezoned for apartments. The rezoning request was denied and the home was bought by several preservation-minded locals who secured it until the State of Tennessee/Tennessee Historical Commission could purchase the museum-quality property. It is now restored and opened to the public on November 1, 2017, as a unit of Sycamore Shoals State Park. The property is operated by the Park under a memorandum of understanding with the Tennessee Historical Commission.


Construction history

Brigadier General Nathaniel Taylor began building Sabine Hill between 1814 and 1816, after returning home to Elizabethton following the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
. Taylor had been one of the earliest settlers in Elizabethton, having arrived as a boy around 1780 when his family migrated from
Rockbridge County, Virginia Rockbridge County is a County (United States), county in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 22,650. Its count ...
to the settlement along the Watauga River.. Excerpt published by ''New York Times'', September 30, 2001. By 1796, when Carter County was formed and Tennessee became a state, Taylor owned of land. That same year, he became the first
sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...
of Carter County and one of the first officers in the new state militia. He later served in the Tennessee General Assembly. During the War of 1812 he had command of the American fortifications at the port of
Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...
. After Taylor returned from the war, he sought to build an impressive home for his family. He selected a site on a hill with a commanding view of the Happy Valley area of western Carter County. https://web.archive.org/web/20140201222127/https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/article/98231/sabine-hill-its-good-to-see-history-preserved/ "Sabine Hill: It’s good to see history preserved" February 13th, 2012. Retrieved 28 August 202. Taylor named the house Sabine Hill, apparently in imitation of Sabine Hall, the Virginia estate of Landon Carter, and is said to have hired a
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
architect to design the home. Taylor died in 1816, before the house was finished. His wife, Mary "Polly" Patton Taylor, completed the project circa 1818–20, after her husband's death. She outlived her husband by 37 years, presiding over Sabine Hill until her death in 1853.


Description

The house is built on a two-story I-house plan with a five- bay front facade. It has a foundation of
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
quarried in the local area. The exterior walls are built from logs that are completely covered by clapboard siding. The floors are random-width
pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...
laid over hand-hewn timber joists. There are
brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...
chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...
s on both ends of the structure. The clapboard siding, a
fanlight A fanlight is a form of lunette window (transom window), often semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing (window), glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open Hand fan, fan. It is placed over another window or a doorway, ...
transom over the front door, and the hand-wrought wood trim in the house's interior appear to have been added a few years after the house was built. Originally the house had a split- shingle roof, which had been replaced by galvanized iron as of 1936, when Sabine Hill was visited for the
Historic American Buildings Survey The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
(HABS). A one-story service wing extends from the rear, in an arrangement that was common at the time the house was built. The HABS analysis observed that the interior details of the house were of particularly high quality. Noteworthy features mentioned included "delicate and almost elaborately carved" fireplace mantels and chamfered joints in the wood paneling on the walls. HABS also saw indications that Sabine Hill's design might have been influenced by architecture in
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, particularly the design features of the Capitol Building there. One design detail noted as similar to features seen in Williamsburg was the use of " marbleized" wood for wainscoting along the stairway. The interior of Sabine Hill also reflected the
patriotism Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...
of its owners; traces of the original paint indicate that the interior was painted in the colors of the U.S. flag, with white walls, red molding, and blue wainscoting.


Later history

In its early decades, Sabine Hill served as both the home of the Taylor family and the headquarters of a large estate that was tended by
slaves Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
. At his death, General Nathaniel Taylor was recorded as the owner of a very large amount of land and about 20 slaves. Although the younger members of the family had homes of their own, the Taylor family had a major presence in the Happy Valley area in the vicinity of Sabine Hill. The family grew in prominence and influence during the 19th century. Nathaniel Green Taylor, a grandson of Nathaniel and Mary Taylor, served in the U.S. House of Representatives. His sons Robert Love Taylor and Alfred A. Taylor both were later to become Governor of Tennessee, and Robert Love Taylor also served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. The property remained in the Taylor family until 1947, but the family stopped living in the home some time in the 19th century. In 1892, a
journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
who visited Sabine Hill found the house vacant and in a state of deterioration, although much of its decor and furnishings were intact. In 1936, HABS found the house occupied by a tenant farmer who also rented some surrounding farmland. HABS found the house to be in reasonably sound condition in spite of a lack of recent maintenance. A basement had been added some time before 1936. In 1947 a member of the Taylor family sold the property to the Sabine Hill Realty Company with an instruction that "the old house located on this tract must either be razed or remodeled." The property was sold again in 1948 and 1949. James L. Reynolds, who acquired it in 1949, was interested in preserving the house. During his ownership, which continued until 1999, many repairs and alterations were made, including foundation and chimney repairs, installation of new
window sash A sash window or hung sash window is made of one or more movable panels, or "sashes". The individual sashes are traditionally paned windows, but can now contain an individual sheet (or sheets, in the case of double glazing) of glass. History ...
es, and addition of a porch. Reynolds replaced much of the clapboard siding and flipped and sanded many pieces of siding. The house was also equipped with modern kitchen and bathroom fixtures. In 1973, during the Reynolds ownership, Sabine Hill was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. After Reynolds' death, his heirs decided to sell the property. After officials of the city of Elizabethton were unsuccessful in an effort to acquire it in order to preserve it, in 2003 it was sold to a couple from Johnson City who hoped to renovate the house and make it into a historic site attraction. They were unable to achieve their goals, and the property was optioned to a developer who wanted to demolish the house and build
condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...
s on the site.


Preservation

Sabine Hill was saved from demolition by a group of locals who bought it and held it until it could be purchased by the Tennessee Historical Commission in 2007. The restoration was undertaken by the Tennessee Historical Commission and it is operated as a unit of Sycamore Shoals State Park. It is an excellent example of federal-style architecture.


References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses in Carter County, Tennessee Federal architecture in Tennessee Historic American Buildings Survey in Tennessee Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Carter County, Tennessee