S. S. Eaves House Decatur, Tennessee
National Register of Historic Places Data
The S. S. Eaves House has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the following information, which has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 82003998
- Date Listed
- July 6, 1982
- Name
- Eaves, S. S., House
- Part of
- Meigs County, Tennessee MRA (Multiple Property Submission)
- Address
- Eaves Ferry Rd.
- City/Town
- Decatur
- County
- Meigs
- State
- Tennessee
- Category
- building
- Creators
- Eaves, Samuel S.
- Level of Sig.
- local
- Years of Sig.
- 1909
- Areas of Sig.
- COMMERCE; TRANSPORTATION; ARCHITECTURE
Description
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
The S. S. Eaves House, reflecting a Steamboat Gothic influence, is a two story frame house with weatherboarded exterior and a brick pier foundation with covering latticework. Basically rectangular in plan with projecting wings, the house is covered by a stamped metal hip and deck roof with a boxed modillion cornice. The cross gable roofs over the wings feature a modillion cornice with open-returns. Cresting appears on the deck of the roof and there are finials on the gable ends. There are three interior brick chimneys.
The facade (south elevation) of the house has two bays west of a projecting wing; a 1/1 light window with cornice window head is to the west of a doorway with transom and corniced head. (All windows and doors have this treatment.) The projecting wing is one bay wide, featuring a 1/1 light window with corniced head. A two tier veranda with stamped metal shed roof encircles the south, west, and north elevations of the house. The porch is supported by sixteen tapered columns on each floor with a turned balustrade on each floor. The porch roof has a modillion cornice. Another decorative feature of the house is square attic windows in the gable ends.
Statement of Significance
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
Built in 1909 by Samuel S. Eaves with B. Bunch as carpenter, the S. S. Eaves House is one of the rare houses still standing in Tennessee showing Steamboat Gothic architectural influence. Totally unaltered, the Eaves House is the largest, most impressive house in Meigs County and was the first house in the county to have electricity and running water.
S. S. Eaves moved with his father, Pleasant L. Eaves, to Breedenton in 1880. By the turn of the century, S. S. Eaves had become a very prosperous businessman. His large general merchandise store, ferry, and steamboat landing were important to the commerce of the area. His store served as a gathering place for the many local people who would go to Breedenton on Sundays to ride the steamboats that docked there.
Eaves's steam boat landing was an essential part of Meigs County's transportation system. With poor roads and no railroad, steamboats served as the best carriers of goods and travellers to Meigs County's primary markets of Chattanooga and Knoxville. Older residents of the county still remember waiting at Eaves Store for the landing of the Joe Wheeler, the main steamboat servicing Meigs County in the early 1900's. The Joe Wheeler made its last excursion to Breedenton in 1916. The importance of Eaves's Landing may explain the style of architecture, Steamboat Gothic, Eaves chose for this impressive home on the banks of the Tennessee River.
