Dicks-Elliott House
Encyclopedia
Dicks-Elliott House is a historic home located in Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...

. It was built in 1813 by Agatha Terrell Dicks, widow of Windsor chair
Windsor chair
A Windsor chair is a chair built with a solid wooden seat into which the chair-back and legs are dowelled, or pushed into drilled holes, in contrast to standard chairs, where the back legs and the uprights of the back are continuous. The seats of Windsor chairs were often carved into a shallow dish...

-maker William Dicks. Agatha was the daughter of noted Lynchburg-area Quakers Micajah Terrell and Sarah Lynch. On August 6, 1812, Agatha Dicks' uncle John Lynch (Lynchburg's Founder) sold half-acre Lot Number 175 to Agatha for $1.00.

The dwelling that was built on the property is a -story three-bay Federal-style house. It is constructed of brick laid in three course American Bond, and is covered with a side-gable slate roof. First floor windows are six-over-nine double-hung sash, and upper-story windows are six-over-six double-hung sash. A pair of four-pane casement sash flank the chimney at the third, or garret, level. The front entrance is located in the middle bay, which is somewhat unusual for Lynchburg houses of the period. The six-panel door is accessed by a small frame porch that was constructed in the early 21st century. A -story, gable-roofed frame addition (built c. 2000) projects from the rear of the house, and a 2-story porch occupies the remainder of the rear facade. A small 1-story shed-rood addition projects from the northwestern elevation. According to insurance maps and physical evidence, the house originally had a -story, gable-roofed brick wing on this elevation. This wing was demolished in the early 20th century. A -story frame outbuilding dating to the early 21st century is located in the northwestern corner of the lot, which now measures approximately 1/12 of an acre.

While uncommon for three-bay houses of the period in Lynchburg, the interior floor plan is remarkably similar to plans of houses found in the Quaker communities surrounding Guilford County, North Carolina
Guilford County, North Carolina
Guilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2010, the Census Bureau estimated the county's population to be 491,230. Its seat is Greensboro. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina, making Guilford one of only a handful...

 (William Dicks' home). Visitors entering through the front door immediately enter the primary chamber of the first floor, rather than a hallway or antechamber. A smaller room is accessed via a small hallway in the northeastern corner of the house. This hallway also contains a switchback winding staircase that serves all three floor levels. Combined with the wing that was demolished in the early 20th century, the house exhibited a modified three-cell plan that was typical for Quaker-built dwellings of the period. Trim details in the house are relatively spartan, and typically display Roman, rather than Greek, ovolo profiles.

In 1814, Agatha Dicks sold the house to Peter Elliott, a builder from Richmond. Dicks then traveled with her children to Ohio to flee the slaveholding state of Virginia. In 1815, she married noted Quaker missionary Isaac Harvey. She died in 1828 and is buried at the Old Springfield Friends Meeting House in Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington, Ohio
Wilmington is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 12,520 at the 2010 census. At city entrances from state routes, county roads, and U.S. highways, the city slogan of "We Honor Our Champions" is seen, accompanied by signs that highlight various...

.

Peter Elliott (1774–1863) was born in Gloucester County, Virginia
Gloucester County, Virginia
Gloucester County is within the Commonwealth of Virginia in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area in the USA. Formed in 1651 in the Virginia Colony, the county was named for Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, third son of King Charles I of Great Britain. Located in the Middle Peninsula region, it...

. In the early 1790s, he moved to Richmond
Richmond, Virginia
Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, in the United States. It is an independent city and not part of any county. Richmond is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond area...

 and began working for William McKim, a carpenter. In 1794, he served as a private in Captain John Stewart's Company, Major George Benn's Battalion, Colonel William Campbell's Regiment of Virginia Militia during the Whiskey Rebellion
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...

. In 1814, he moved to Lynchburg where he continued his profession of carpentry and building. In 1824, he moved to Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

 and added the blacksmith's trade to his repertoire. Around 1849, he moved to Evansville, Indiana
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...

 to live with one of his sons, Joseph Peter Elliott. Peter Elliott died in Evansville, Indiana in 1863.

A partial list of subsequent owners of the house includes Irish tobacconist James V. Knight (from 1836–1858), merchant John T. Murrill and family (from 1858–1891), and WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 General George Murrell Alexander (in the 1950s). The house was rental property from 1891–1952, and the family of Arthur Walkup occupied the house from about 1918–1943.

The Dicks-Elliott House was determined to be individually eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. It was included as a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...

 in the 2002 Boundary Increase of the Court House Hill-Downtown Historic District
Court House Hill-Downtown Historic District
The Court House Hill—Downtown Historic District is a national historic district located in Lynchburg, Virginia. The area is situated on a promontory overlooking the Lower Basin Historic District on the south bank of the James River...

, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

. The house is a recipient of a Merit Award from the Lynchburg Historical Foundation, and has been featured on HGTV
HGTV
HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...

's "Dream Builders," "Old Homes Restored," and "If Walls Could Talk
If Walls Could Talk (TLC)
If Walls Could Talk is a show on American cable television channel HGTV. Each episodes last a half-hour, and usually airs at 5:00 and 5:30 Eastern Time. Hosted by Mike Siegel, this show talks about mysteries and shocking discoveries found in houses....

" (Episode WCT-1507H "Emily and Scott Smith buy their 1812 (sic) home in Lynchburg, Va., for only a dollar and get way more than they bargained for. Throughout the five-year renovation, the couple has discovered marbles, buttons, carpenter tools, wedding rings, an 1800s bullet mold and what appear to be pentagrams engraved into the fireplace."

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