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Rumph House Also known as the Weathers Home |
History of the Rumph House
This house sat on property which was originally owned by Mrs. Airy (Mrs. J. W. Posey), a very cultured lady of the old school.
She was a graduate of Judson College, Marion, AL and the widow of Judge J.W. Posey. Mrs. Posey majored in the Music and Academic
Arts at Judson, and in the little brick house she called the “Garden Cottage”, she conducted a very exclusive private school.
The original house stood in the exact place where Mr. Rumph built his beautiful mansion, around 1898 to 1900. Mr. Rumph came here
from Georgia, having been brought by L & N Railroad to manage a peach orchard. The peach orchard stretched from the site of
Willie Rogers’ BBQ to Owassa on both sides of the road. Mr. Rumph was a very handsome, dashing young gentleman and was well liked
by everyone. However, his beautiful young wife never liked living in the small town atmosphere of Evergreen, and afterwards, when
the peach orchard suffered from several frosts, the orchard was declared a failure and the Rumph family moved on. The house was
then sold to a Dr. Cunningham of Chicago, IL who came here in the winter months with his adopted daughters. The late W. (Will) C.
Crumpton, a young attorney, rented a room in the home. At the death of their father, the sisters sold their home to Mr. Crumpton,
who did not marry until late in life. After nine years, living with his beloved wife in this beautiful home, Mr. Crumpton passed
away. At this time, the property once again changed hands and the house was sold to the late D.H.McCreary family. His family
lived there for about twenty-one years, and then it passed to the Deal family, then the Weathers family. About this time, the
house was quite ‘tired’ and rundown, and was subsequently sold to the Evergreen Baptist Church for use as a Youth Center. After
this, the house was deemed unacceptable for inhabitants and was put up for sale to be removed from the property. The lovely old
home was taken apart, mantels, windows, doors, porch columns and railings, all sold to interested citizens of the community,
never to be together again.
Miss Elizabeth D’Autry Riley compared the home to a human body: when neglected it simply deteriorates: the rooms are the
functioning organs; the windows are the eyes; the doors are the mouths; and the galleries are the arms. She stated that it was
with “a feeling of sadness when one views a lovely old home being torn down, not wanted anymore. The years of service completed,
and how often the spacious galleries opened their arms to welcome guests; doors swung open wide with a smile; rooms gave off a
cheerful atmosphere; windows rolled their eyes in anticipation and the winding stairs leaped for joy getting ready for the
children to slide.”
Submitted by Sherry Johnston - December 8, 2004