|
This
1871 home is the oldest in the Solar
Hill Historic District, a few blocks from historic downtown
Bristol (home of Rhythm
& Roots Music Festival
and NASCAR's Bristol
Motor Speedway).
The
4000 square foot Federal-style house
with neoclassic portico is
among Bristol's oldest homes. It features tiger oak floors, four
wood burning fireplaces, a sun room, downstairs guest suite, sunken
goldfish pond and perrenial garden bounded by granite retaining
walls.
It
is 5 minutes to Virginia Intermont
and King colleges, 10 minutes
to the Bristol
Motor Speedway, 15 minutes to Abingdon
(home of the Virginia
Highlands Festival),
15 minutes to South
Holston Lake
(home of world class fishing), 20 minutes to Kingsport (home of
the Fun
Fest)
and 35 minutes to Jonesborough (home of the Storytelling
Festival).
HISTORY
Solar
Hill is named after an astronomical observatory that was used
to view the total
solar eclipse of 1869. It is Bristol’s oldest residential
neighborhood and is listed on the National Historic Places and
Virginia Landmarks registers. The oldest complete house on
the hill, 203 Solar was built in 1871 after an auction of founding
father Rev. James King's land. A former stagecoach road runs behind
the house.
Professor
J.H. Winston bought the lot and sold it to G.M. Whitten. Dr. William
Whitten built the house, which became known as 'Grand View.' Mrs.
Whitten advertised in the newspapers of the day that she had rooms
to rent with a beautiful view of the mountains. Later the house
was sold to Dr. Wallace who was in business with the family who
owned Bunting's Drug Store. Wallace sold the home to L. F. Johnson.
He eventually gave it to his daughter, Wirt C. Carrington, who
became a noted writer and wrote a history of Halifax County, Virginia. The
home was bought by W.H. Blakely who owned the Blakely Mitchell
Company (a men's haberdashery) on State Street.
|
TODAY
In
2003 Deborah Suzanne Jones and her father Robert purchased the
house and began restoration of the property. Deborah is a published
professional writer with graduate training in Communications from
the University of California, Davis. An alumna of Kalamazoo College,
one of Michigan’s oldest and finest private schools, she is the
owner of the Applause Screenwriting
Competition. In 2007 she wrote, produced and directed the
short film Capital
Women about women's rights in turn-of-the-century Sacramento.
Bristol
is the hometown of Deborah's mother and grandmother. She is director
of the Solar Hill Historic
District Association and since 2003 she has obtained almost
half a million dollars in grant monies to help revitalize the
historic neighborhood. To date she has also obtained $70,000 in
grant monies to help develop a living history museum at the Robert
Preston house, Bristol's oldest frame building dating from
the 1790s.
Deborah
is the daughter of Bristolian Virginia Kaylor Jones, a gifted
pianist and vocalist. Virginia was the daughter of Mrs. Abraham
Barker ‘Lonnie’ Kaylor of Bristol. A. B. Kaylor was a descendant
of land owner Thomas Fullen Kaylor of Mendota and was related
to Col. J. M. Barker who co-developed Bristol's renowned Fairmont
Hotel and Fairmont District in the 1800s.
Lonnie
Kaylor was one of Bristol’s earliest female real estate entrepreneurs
who bought and sold residential homes and lodgings and owned several
Bristol businesses including the Olympia Theater. She was a well-known
philanthropist in the community and long-time member of Calvary
Baptist Church who donated land to start several other churches.
She was a major property owner in Bristol Tennessee and Appalachia
Virginia. Virginia and Lonnie Kaylor were greatly admired and
loved by those who knew them well. They are missed by many Bristolians.
|
