Intro | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
3. The Eggleston Place (203 3rd Avenue North)
ABOUT THE EGGLESTON PLACE:
The Eggleston Place—a columned, white home with a rear gazebo and latticed porch—looks like a storybook illustration, and in fact, the house does have a literary connection. The property is the setting for Christine Noble Govan’s 1930s children’s series Those Plummer Children, and the family—Judge Josiah Carr Campbell Eggleston, wife Julia Plummer Eggleston, their children, and the family’s cook, along with her children—inspired the main characters. The author lived nearby on Fair Street and enjoyed a close relationship with Mrs. Eggleston. The book’s dedication reads, “To my parents and my foster mother Julia Plummer Eggleston and to the memory of Judge Joseph Carr Eggleston, who was the best friend any child ever had.” (The judge’s name is misprinted—he was indeed Josiah, not Joseph.)
Andrew Craig and Letitia McAlpin Vaughan built the home in 1888 and sold the property to the Egglestons in December 1896 for $3,600. The Egglestons added the front and columns a year later. After changing hands several times, the Eggleston Place is now owned by Albert Menefee.
WHY I LOVE THIS HOUSE:
My fondness for the Eggleston Place stems from an obvious reason: I’m a writer, so I’m drawn to most anything with a literary connection. I can picture author Christine Noble Govan gathering ideas for her manuscript while sipping sweet tea with Mrs. Eggleston on the latticed back porch. I also adore the quintessential Southern style of this house: large porches that foster Southern hospitality, grand columns that add timeless elegance, and a gazebo that just calls for a rocking chair and frothy glass of lemonade.
