Frederick Garst II--Limestone TN--info needed
Some of us have received a note from Gary Michael who is the current owner of the Frederick Garst house, built in the 1840s, in Limestone TN. He is restoring the home and nominating it for the National Registry of Historic Places, but so far research on the family has been difficult, though they have found some fascinating historical and archaelogical details. He is looking for descendants of the family who may have documents, pictures, etc.So far, I have not been able to uncover a serious researcher on the family. Most files on the internet seem to have been taken directly from W.T. Garst's book without additional research. I am not Frederick's line (his brother Jacob's), but this sounds like a really significant project in Garst history and I'm happy to help the Michaels.Hope others with better knowledge about the family will emerge and join the project!
I quote from Gary Michael below:
"We intend to restore the property to its 1840s state peeling back as much of the changes to the house that subsequent owners inflicted. Although still solid, nevertheless, it has weathered many insults through the Victorian and modern eras.
We moved here in July '09 and to date, we're still studying the house and devising a restoration-reclamation plan.
I'm truly amazed with the wealth of information in the ground here; happenstance and a couple of small archaeological survey trenches have turned up more than a bushel of early and mid 18th-century marker-artifacts and musket parts. So, the site had a substantial history prior to F-II's arrival. And yet, it's a battle to hold on to Frederick's past here; sadly, we lost his cantilever barnto a log salvager before we could purchase it.
I had known of the Garst home-place and farm layout since the 80's. His barn was truly classic with great integrity and had been the 3rd structure in a survey of cantilever's in East TN that I had workedwith Architectural Historians Marianne Moffett and Lawrence Wodehouse for their now classic monograph (UT Press 1986).I am currently excavating toward the old "dairy", i.e. spring house, near the creek; a previous owner had gutted many of the stones and another had haplessly bulldozed the driveway obliterating it. When I started, all that remained to suggest a substantial drystone building were a few stray ashlars and my gut-hunch that a dairy had to be near the water and close to the house. We plan to restore that too.
Carole and I have researched the property and a good bit of Mr Garst's history for the past three years. But we're too far from finished to be satisfied, a fact that complicates our more immediate efforts. We're in the throes of nominating his house, his farm, and Mr. Garst and his family's involvement in that historical era for the National Registry of Historic Places.
...we're looking for copies of documents, letters, photographs, etc that might add additional depth to our work and help with the nomination. ...These are the things that give depth and color to history. If you know of anyone who would comfortably share their knowledge with us, I would appreciate that information and a referral.
An example of some of the "color" we've accidentally discovered: We know that F-II was considered the wealthiest landowner in Washington county at his death, and he had been enamored with a nascentprogressive farmer's movement of the 30s, 40s and 50s. We know he had attempted silk-worm farming here in Tennessee. It is believed that he, several other regional farmers and folks at Port Royal, Tennessee, combined their silk to manufacture the silk-suit worn by Gov James C. Jones when he took the oath of office in 1843. We know F-II produced an average of 2500 gallons of Linseed oil yearly for about 11 years. We know a lot, but not enough . . . We know from mortise bricks, clumsily repointed in the 1870's, that this I-house had a full domestic porch at the rear of the house and F-II had another two-story frame structure attached to the south wall. We know that there was a full German Bake oven and summer kitchen here--a feature unusual to this region. We know that he had a brick and limestone privy--also a feature unusual here. We know a lot, but not enough . . .
More Replies:
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Re: Frederick Garst II--Limestone TN--info needed
PAUL GILL 4/05/10
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Re: Frederick Garst II--Limestone TN--info needed
Chuck Garst 1/28/10
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Re: Frederick Garst II--Limestone TN--info needed
Karen Dale 1/10/10