White Plains Plantation

 

White Plains Plantation on Old Walton Road will be open to the public on Friday & Saturday, 19 & 20 September. Members of the families that lived in the house over many years will show the house and display quilts owned by the families.

The history of White Plains dates back to circa 1848

Lt. William Pennington Quarles, a Revolutionary soldier, his large family, and several slaves left their home in Bedford County, Virginia and after about a month of travel, reached their new home, White Plains, around Christmas day, 1809. He apparently purchased or traded his Revolutionary War Land grant in Kentucky for this land and then set about purchasing additional acreage around the property.

Soon White Plains became not only a home, but also had an Inn, general store, blacksmith shop, post office, school as well as being the center of a large farm, raising corn and cotton. Its use as an Inn also holds historical significance since Andrew Jackson and many other dignitaries of the day would stay at the home or the Inn on their way to Washington DC or other points east or west. The Old Walton Road surveyed in 1779 by Capt. William Walton, another Rev. War soldier, ran through White Plains. It was the interstate of its time; so many pioneers moving west would have traveled this road. It ran from Kingston to Carthage. Putnam County has more miles of the Old Walton Road than any other county.

Lt. Quarles applied for and received permission to practice law in what was then White County. He was appointed judge and his court was supposed to have convened in the blacksmith’s shop. He also was a Mason and served in the White County Militia. This service is why he was also known as Major Quarles. He was assassinated a few miles from home in the fall of 1813.

As the population of the area increased, the need for establishment of a new county was seen. Responding to this, petitions were sent to Nashville and in 1842, Putnam County was formed from portions of White, Overton, and Jackson Counties. White Plains was named temporary County Seat and the place where both Circuit and County Courts should be held until a permanent site could be established. Putnam County was later declared invalid and was not reformed until 1854 and the county seat moved to Cookeville. (Note: Cookeville was not even formed until after 1842) It was originally to be called Monticello.

The first home of Lt. Quarles and family was probably one of logs built about ¼ mile east of the present house. (Where the Burton cemetery now is located) The Quarles and Burton families lived there until the house burned. Quarles’ grandson, Stephen Decatur Burton, built the present home circa 1848. It originally consisted of eight rooms (four up and four down) each floor with a central hall. Also, there was an outside kitchen over which may have been slave quarters. Each of the eight rooms is 15 ½ feet square and features a fireplace (four chimneys). Every fireplace surround is hand cut with a different design. The home is constructed of yellow popular with 12” hand honed beams running the thirty-five plus feet. Although not as large as the Hermitage, White Plains, the Burton home, has many of the same design features. The door moldings and wide baseboards are the same type designs as well as other details. Actually, the woodwork is more elaborate. All joints in the house are mortised. All doors are alike, with ironstone knobs, and the locks work like a thumb latch. The floors were put down with square-headed nails, probably made on the place. They are still visible on the second floor. The stairs are of interest because of the fact that there are no nails to hold them together…again, everything is mortised. The unique features of the house are the matching “Gun Cabinets” built in on either side of the front door. This feature is not found in any other known home. 

Since Mr. Burton did have slaves, those homes where in a row to the back of the house. Foundation stones are still visible. Until the later part of the 1800’s, S.D. Burton operated a large general store at White Plains. The ledger for the 1849-1862 era is on display at the Cookeville History Museum.

The home has been reported to be surrounded by a spacious green meadow. Adjoining the meadow was the “deer lot”. There tame deer lived. It was surrounded by an unusually high and strong rail fence of the “rail and rider” type and on the outside, artificial mounds were constructed at intervals of logs and earth, so that wild deer might walk up and jump in. These were used to feed the family. This area eventually became an orchard. Back of the meadow was the “Stable”, never called a barn. S.D. Burton was an avid horse breeder and raced many fine horses. Andrew Jackson was known to have traded and raced with Burton. White Plains was reported to have its own racetrack. Also on one corner of the place, was a one-room schoolhouse built for all the children of the family and friends.

Three cemeteries are located on the original property. The Quarles cemetery where Lt. William P. Quarles and this wife, among others are buried is about ¼ mile east of the current home. The Burton Cemetery is directly in front of the Quarles and faces the Old Walton Road. It is thought that the original home was at this location. The slave cemetery is located across from the Burton home. There, gravestones of house-and others slaves can still be seen.

The home and approximately 120 acres remained in the Quarles/Burton family until, in the late 1950’s, when Harvey Draper and his daughter, Mildred Summers purchased the land and home and set about to restore the home as much as possible. During that period, the home was bricked and the wings added. The den was originally the back porch. In 1959, the families moved into the home and continued to maintain the property. The original smokehouse and corncrib are located on the grounds near the home. Many groups have toured the home and grounds in the past few years. Martha Summers Willis and her husband, Dr. Tom Willis are now the owners and continue prize the home as visual history of a by-gone era.

Plans are underway to place the home and Slave Graveyard on the Tennessee and National Historic Register. A celebration of the two hundred anniversary of Lt. Quarles and family arriving at White Plains is being planned for the first weekend in June 2009.