Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, known also as Tipton-Haynes House, is a Tennessee State Historic Site located at 2620 South Roan Street in
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Washington, Carter, and Sullivan counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, mostly in Washington County. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 71,046, making it the eighth largest city in Tennessee. John ...
. It includes a house originally built in 1784 by Colonel
John Tipton
John Tipton (August 14, 1786 – April 5, 1839) was from Tennessee and became a farmer in Indiana; an officer in the 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe, and veteran officer of the War of 1812, in which he reached the rank of Brigadier General; and pol ...
, and 10 other buildings, including a
smokehouse
A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke
Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...
,
pigsty
A sty or pigsty is a small-scale outdoor enclosure for raising domestic pigs as livestock. It is sometimes referred to as a hog pen, hog parlor, pigpen, pig parlor, or pig-cote, although pig pen may refer to pens confining pigs that are kep ...
,
loom
A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...
house, still house,
springhouse
A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing stru ...
, log barn and
corncrib
A corn crib or corncrib is a type of granary used to dry and store corn. It may also be known as a cornhouse or corn house.
Overview
After the harvest and while still on the cob, corn is placed in the crib either with or without the husk. The ...
. There is also the home of George Haynes, a Haynes family slave.
Tipton led the opposition to the
State of Franklin
The State of Franklin (also the Free Republic of Franklin or the State of Frankland)Landrum, refers to the proposed state as "the proposed republic of Franklin; while Wheeler has it as ''Frankland''." In ''That's Not in My American History Boo ...
, an unsuccessful attempt by the
Tennessee Valley
The Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to north Alabama and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Car ...
residents to form a state in the mid-1780s. In late February 1788, the so-called "Battle of Franklin" took place when a militia led by
John Sevier
John Sevier (September 23, 1745 September 24, 1815) was an American soldier, frontiersman, and politician, and one of the founding fathers of the State of Tennessee. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, he played a leading role in Tennes ...
, who had been elected governor of the proposed state, surrounded the Tipton farm and demanded the return of several slaves Tipton had confiscated from Sevier upon court order from the State of North Carolina. When Tipton refused, gunfire was exchanged, followed by a two-day standoff. Sevier's forces were finally scattered by the
Sullivan County militia. The Franklin movement largely collapsed following this engagement.
Following Tipton's death in 1813, the farm passed to his son, John Tipton, Jr. After John Tipton, Jr. died in 1831, his heirs sold the property to a local land speculator, David Haynes, in 1837. In 1839, Haynes gave the farm to his son,
Landon Carter Haynes
Landon Carter Haynes (December 2, 1816 – February 17, 1875) was an American politician who served as a Confederate States senator from Tennessee from 1862 to 1865. He also served several terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives, inc ...
, as a wedding present. This younger Haynes enlarged the house and added
weatherboarding
Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping.
''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...
. A
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
senator during the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
, Landon Carter Haynes faced death threats from East Tennessee
Unionists and was forced to flee the region in 1865. He sold the farm to his brother-in-law,
Jonesborough publisher Lawson Gifford. In 1945, Gifford's grandson, David Simmerly, sold the farm to the Tennessee Historical Commission, though he continued living there until his death.
[James Bellamy, "The Political Career of Landon Carter Haynes," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', Vol. 28 (1956), p. 105.]
It is one of 18 State Historic Sites and is operated by the Tipton-Haynes Association under an agreement with the
Tennessee Historical Commission
The Tennessee Historical Commission (THC) is the State Historic Preservation Office for the U.S. state of Tennessee. Headquartered in Nashville, it is an independent state agency, administratively attached to the Department of Environment and Con ...
. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1970.
References
External links
Tipton-Haynes State Historic SiteWelcome to the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site“A Slave for Life”: Slavery at the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site, Leigh Ann Gardner. MTSU Center for Historic Preservation
{{National Register of Historic Places
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee
Historic house museums in Tennessee
Museums in Washington County, Tennessee
Tennessee State Historic Sites
State of Franklin
Houses in Washington County, Tennessee
National Register of Historic Places in Washington County, Tennessee