Pickett County’s Amonett House will be restored with $25,000 of grant funding through Tennessee’s ThreeStar program.
Byrdstown-Pickett County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Billy Robbins said the Amonett family is going to provide the remaining money on the $35,000 project. Robbins said there has been interest for nearly a decade from tourists curious about the county’s oldest home.
“Constantly people are coming by and saying, ‘what is that old log home, can a fella go into it and see it and get a glimpse?” Robbins said. “So we’ve had interest in it for some time. Now we want to have it available to the public to view and to see and I think it’s going to be a big positive for this generation to tourism.”
Robbins said the home was built in 1830 and is located on the welcome center property. He said a contractor who specializes in this kind of work is already lined up.
“It will look just like it did when it was first put together,” Robbins said. “It’s got logs and a chimney, the chimney is still in really good shape considering. It’s two stories, with two rooms downstairs and a big open loft upstairs. It will have the log finishing inside and we’ll have some old time lamps and we’ve got stuff to go in there already. It will be a glimpse into the past.”
Robbins said the home is the first step towards the long term goal of creating a historic village in Pickett County. He said that when the Amonett family donated the land eleven years ago, restoring the home and creating the village were projects planned.
“First phase will be the home and getting visitation going through it and then maybe, as the attraction gains footing we can move forward,” Robbins said. “We have a complete blacksmith shop in storage right now, waiting to be used in this project.”
Robbins said that the belief is that the local timber used to construct the home dates back to the 1770’s. He said the goal is to add another tourist attraction for people who are not visiting Dale Hollow Lake.
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