Welcome!
The Allandale Mansion, an elegant Geogian, antebellum-style house is known as Kingsport, Tennessee's "White House." Around 1950, Harvey and Ruth Brooks had an architect design this fabulous house, although there was already a smaller house on the property when they first purchased it. The earlier house was named the "Brown House" because Dudley Brown and his family had lived there. Mr. and Mrs. Brooks simply had the architect incorporate part of the Brown House into their new home. The Brown House is presently used as the Allandale office area.
I knew that the Brown family was related to my husband Greg (whose middle name is Brown), so I asked him to tell me all he knew about the Browns. He told me that Dudley Brown was his great-grandfather who had a family of eight. The Browns were on his father's side of the family. He said that his great-grandfather liked to raise and sell horses on his large farm.
The Brown House
The Allandale Mansion, many of its furnishings, several outbuildings, and twenty-five acres were left to the City of Kingsport upon the death of Harvey Brooks. The city maintains the property and uses it to benefit the public, just as Mr. Brooks wished. Now, it is used for public events, tours, weddings, dinner parties, etc. at reasonable rates.
The first weekend in December, the house is open for its annual Christmas (self-guided) tours, complete with holiday refreshments.
The above: Floral designer Christian Barclay's lovely creations
Greg and I were at Allandale today (Saturday, December 3) and thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The staff, including curator Rod Gemayel, were friendly and very helpful. I even asked one of them if the place was haunted. She replied that none of the staff had ever seen or heard anything strange, but it's an old house, and some people do believe that it is haunted. (You just might want to go see for yourself!)
F.Y.I.:
Allandale Mansion
4444 West Stone Drive
Kingsport, Tennessee
(423) 229-9422
http://www.allandalemansion.com/
Open to the public year round
Closed Dec. 24, 25, 31, Sat., Sun.
See web site above for rates and more details.
Please note: The next blog post will be Sunday, December 18.
Positve thought: Holiday activities can be educational and fun!
Thanks for visiting! Becky
