May 9, 1936
Роде
Three
The Old Southern Homestead
IT is loc.it <‘<l in Shelby nnd Mrs. Paul Webb.
Sr., has filled it with an assortment of an¬
tiques nnd eurios that are extremely in¬
teresting and also valuable.
TO most North Carolina young
moderns. such primitives as ox
cart seats, tavern tables, dough
trays, milking stools, churns, hoop-
skirt chairs and Lazy Susan tables are
ns foreign as the pompadours, bustles
nnd hoop skirts of great grandmother’s
day. It is for just this reason that
Mrs. Paul Webb, «Sr., of Shelby, has
developed a most interesting hobby in
the form of a typical "Big House” of
olden days, filled to bursting with rare
nnd lovely antiques reminiscent of the
days of our pioneer forefathers.
A visit to THE OI.D SOUTH KRN
HOMESTEAD, which is everything
that its name implies, is a veritable
study in North Carolina art, history
and folkcraft from colonial days down
to the present. From cabin and tenant
houses in remote corners of the state,
Mrs. Webb has garnered her treasure*
until she now ha* one of the finest and
most famous collections of antiques
in the South.
To give the place the atmosphere of
mi old Southern plantation has been
• me of Mrs. Webb's prime objectives in
Iff# MAJEI. IVEY SEAY
developing her hobby,
«о
that today's
children might see just how our fore¬
fathers lived. A typical homestead of
•Invery days lias been the result. The
home, originally an unattractive, in¬
artistic old house, line liocomc, under
Mrs. Webb's artistic direction, one of
the show places of Shelby; a spot of
rare beauty.
A white picket fence surrounds the
lot on which tho "Big House" i«
located. Interesting walkways of old
ling and mill stones lead to the house,
to the lattice-covered well in the side
yard and to "The Quarters” in the
rear. In "The Quarters,” ( the museum
workshop), the relic* are cleaned and
restored before being placed among
the other pieces in the Museum.
On the front lawn is an old-fashioned
lamp (Hist with a lamp holder of
wrought iron. Lighting the doorways
arc real "primitive” conch lanterns.
\mong Mrs. Webb’s other relics are
•omc interesting historical pieces. There
are two clocks, an Eli Terry and
я
Seth Thomas, that were in the first
Courthouse in Cleveland County. There
i* a chest of drawers that came from
the Rutherford County home where
Lincoln's mother. Nancy Hanks, is said
to have lived when she was a girl.
There is also n pie-crust mahogany
tilt-top table from the Tyler family
and a sandwich lamp from the same
family.
No finer corner clipboards are to
found in the South than those in
THE SOUTHERN HOMESTEAD.
They are all North Carolina cupboards,
most of them made by an itinerant
cabinet maker. Peter Eddlernnn, who
went from plantation to plantation
making cupboards from trees grown on
tile place. One of these cabinets car¬
ries the date 1801. Beautifully caned
ami inlaid, they contain no nails at all
nnd the hand-wrought hinges are the
only metals used.
Seekers of rare antiques will he
(Continued on page Iwcnty-six)