Summit, Pike County, MS, "Tour of Homes"

Entrance to "The Summit House"

Summit, Mississippi, celebrated its sesquicentennial (150^th anniversary) April 13-19, 2008.  Six historic homes were open to the public during Summit's two-day "Tour of Homes," sponsored by the Summit Historical Society.  

*Charles Levy was a Jewish merchant.  His Greek Revival home, built in the 1870's, is on the corner of Magnolia Street.

*Jacobowsky was a builder.  His Colonial Revival home, built in 1854, is on Peters Street.

*S.M. Covington was a druggist.  His modified Queen Ann Victorian home is on the corner of Laurel and Calhoun Streets. 

*James C. Lamkin was mayor of Summit twice.  His home, one of the oldest in Pike County, is on Calhoun Street and includes 17 acres of land.. 

*Hugh Atkinson was a cotton exchange worker.  His home, built several years after the Civil War, is on East Robb Street.

*The Salusburys were first-generation architects from Wales.  Their home, located on Laurel Street, was completely rebuilt after the tornado of 1923 destroyed it, along with many other historic landmarks in Summit.

"The Summit House"

I took a few pictures at the Jacobowsky home, also known as "The Summit House," and the following is information taken from the open house brochure on this home:

After the current owners, Jim and Missy Hancock, purchased this home, they spent several years working to prepare it to live in.  As they were living in Jackson during most of the preparation, the grandchildren referred to their grandparents' two homes as "The Jackson House" and "The Summit House."  After the Hancocks sold their Jackson home, only "The Summit House" remained, and the name stuck!

Owner Missy Hancock inside "The Summit House"

In 1992 "The Summit House" stood in a virtual 2.7 acre wilderness of briars, broom sedge, wisteria, and wild privet hedge interspersed with multiflora roses.  The vacant home was in need of quite a bit of repair and restoration.  After retiring, the Hancocks worked on the home, with attention focused on maintaining era-specific architecture and furnishings.  The entire family enjoyed their first Christmas together in their newly restored home in 1997.

Some of the features of the home are period-specific furniture, architectural dental moldings, copula, a 13-column wrap-around porch, and a carriage house.  Also in the home is an 1860 half teaster bedroom suite, wig dressers, hurricane glass, walk-through windows, wormy cypress flooring, and quarter-sawn white oak flooring.  A few special family touches include the heart-pine flooring in the kitchen from the Hancock home in Amite County, MS, the Wallace family's 1917 mantle clock, and the 1817 pier mirror from New Orleans.

The fourteen-foot ceilings show the expanse of the formal dining and living rooms.  Beautiful solid cherry cabinets adorn the kitchen.  The grand entry hall and foyer open up the eyes of the viewer to times gone by.  Many circle dances were held in the home during the era.  The path was down the hallway, through the dining room, into the living, and back into the hallway to complete the circle!

Owner Jim Hancock with visitors in the backyard of "The Summit House"

The back porch was converted into a sunroom and laundry room in later years.  The carriage house was redesigned and remodeled by the Hancocks.  The hand-made doors were built on site by James J. Hancock, and the windows came from Calvary Baptist Church in Lincoln County, by way of the Martin Wallace family, who helped build the church.

On the expansive grounds are many types of azaleas, camellias, daylily beds strewn with impatiens, Gerber daisies, amaryllis, Confederate and yellow jasmine, and flowering cherry, crabapple, fig, and plum trees.

*** To see the photos of "The Summit House" (and all my photo albums, including the Summit Sesquicentennial parade and entertainment and beard-growing contest winners), please visit www.photoworks.com/members/tmorgan100.  (Click on "View all" to see albums not pictured on the first page.  Note: Photos can be viewed as a slide show, but in full-screen mode descriptions which may be under some of the photos are not visible--you may need to scroll down to read the descriptions.)  (Photo uploading for the ActiveRain site is not working at this time.  When it is fixed, I will post a few photos here.)

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