CHARLESTON, Tenn. — The historic Henegar House has been added to Tennessee sites in the Civil War Trails Association’s national tour.
During an event Tuesday to celebrate the announcement, Southern belles from the United Daughters of the Confederacy’s Tellico Ironworks chapter mingled with the crowd gathered on Market Street in a drizzling rain. They listened to music from the Walker Valley High School band and watched Civil War re-enactors portraying a Union artillery unit.
Dr. Carroll Van West, director of the Middle Tennessee State University Center for Historic Preservation and director of the Tennessee Civil War National Heritage Area, told the crowd that the Henegar House is a link to both the Trail of Tears and the Civil War.
“We all know how transforming the war was, just as the beginning of the Trail of Tears here on this very spot transformed the relationships between Native Americans and the rest of the country for the rest of time,” he said.
Lee Curtis from the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development said the Civil War Trails Association includes five states.
“You are in a marketing program for Civil War trails, just like Gettysburg. You are on a national program,” she said.
Henegar House owner Natalie Winningham said the house was boarded up and dilapidated when she bought it.
“Even though I had never been attracted to older homes before, it just kind of scooped me up,” she said.
Since then she has researched the home and the Henegar family.
“People are concerned about history and they are bringing it back to me,” she said.
Built in 1849 by Henry Benton Henegar, the house is the oldest brick residence still standing in Bradley County. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Mr. Henegar was a wagon master under Cherokee Chief John Ross, leading a detachment of Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. He built the house after he returned.
Ms. Winningham and author Raymond Evans recently published a book, “Struggle on the Hiwassee,” detailing events of the Charleston and Calhoun area during the Civil War.
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