In 1856 the wealthy Northcutt brothers in the small town of Altamont Tennessee built a home that's now the town legend called the Moffit Manor. The brother's sold the estate in the early 1800s to an old maid spinster named Fannie Moffit. It's sold from the current owners in October 2019 to Dennis and Tammy Sons of Altamont Tennessee and they have taken on a big task remodeling this 5500 square feet home. Tammy states, "It's easier some think to tear down and reconstruct instead of remodeling. Some desire the old woodworking and architecture they can't get in the twenty-first century so they find themselves trying to salvage as much of history as they possibly can as we are trying to accomplish here". Dennis and Tammy Sons own an online shipping tree nursery in Tennessee. After this property went up for sale, Tammy found herself wanting to purchase the home of her dreams, built in the early 1800s that has never been restored located in the small town of Altamont Tennessee the locals call it the Fannie Moffit Manor House of Fortune, located in the small town where she grew up in. The city of Altamont Tennessee also has an autumn festival called The Fannie Moffit Stomp dedicated to the old spinster's memory each year with old car shows, singing, street dances, a five-mile run with food and crafts adorning the streets of this small town.
Listed In The Tennessee Historical Society's list of historic homes made this home even more special to the Sons family wanting to restore local history. After all, this was an old mansion with vaulted ceilings and all the fancy wide basing, tall ceilings, custom windows, and crown moldings only old historical houses have.
When the remodeling process began, the Sons' family were also was up against the idea of ripping out termite-infested flooring that was the very extinct heart pine for replacement with standard white oak flooring. With the heart pine, it only needed poly on the floors because the heart pine is red in color almost like the color of cedar and she wanted to try and match up what she was having to replace the damaged floor with was a daunting task. After many colors, she found the perfect matching stains in the colors of sequoia and cherry mixed with old English and it was almost the perfect match.
Next was restoring the old windows from 1856. They were dry rotted and in terribly bad shape. They were resealed, and the woodwork contractor also restored the wooden grids to make this dream home more of a reality. The kitchen had an old metal cabinet that was rusted beyond restoration and was replaced with solid cherry cabinets. For the kitchen light over the island, a cooktop is an old Viking ceiling fan with three blades an old washtub installed for a kitchen light over the sink to put the manor back in its original look. They also had installed a hammered copper sink with matching cabinet pulls of hammered copper to match. Also installed were black and white french toile wallcoverings goes well with the solid cherry cabinets with a matching black and white scroll tile countertop. The look is super unique in the kitchen area and even though it's upscale, it looks old fashioned also.
The doors were thick with layer after layer of paint. They were top sanded and refinished in a vibrant white oil base finish and they also have the look of the 1800's era being original. Crystal chandeliers also have been installed throughout the entire home with vibrant crystals adorning each one. Old victorian 1800's replica wallcoverings also were hung throughout the house with colors of pastels and less noticeable colors of today's design.
The home is almost 100% completely restored with three new Trane heating and air systems installed all with propan backup heating, all new electrical 250 amp service, completely new plumbing with plex, new appliances with convection ovens, dishwasher, washer and dryer and over $7200 in insulation just blown in all areas plus all the windows are being completely restored. There are all kinds of information about the history as to why it's called the house of fortune on google. When searching for information on this home type in 1547 Main Street Altamont Tn or Fannie Moffit Manor in Altamont Tn. The new owners will sell this estate for $642,000.00 and it comes completely furnished and ready to move in or start your own B&B. Absolutely nothing needs to be updated for this estate. It also has a nice 800 Square foot honeymoon cabin on the back of the premises and it was formerly used as the county courthouse in the early 1800s as one of the Northcutt brothers that was an Army General donated for use for many years.
Links of interest
https://www.facebook.com/pg/FannieMoffittAutumnStomp/about/?ref=page_internal
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brent_nashville/3337713530
http://grundych.org/06_GenCh/Individual/Moffitt,%20Fannie.pdf
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