A great many thoughts clamor through my head whenever I spy an especially interesting historic building. I wonder about the builder, the life story of the owner, and how this particular structure came to exist. In the case of my journey a few years ago through the small town of Gamaliel, Kentucky, I tucked all of these competing mental queries away to deal with later, and concentrated on obtaining my photos. I still don’t know much about the house built for William Page and his wife, Harriet “Hattie” Howard Page, known locally as “the Jackson House,” but I do know that it appears to be in stellar shape and in good hands, unlike the last whimsical house I wrote about in this blog.
The façade of the Page/Jackson House. Photograph May 2019.
I was en route to Bugtussle, Kentucky, when I passed through the small southern Kentucky town of Gamaliel. The uncommon name stems from Gamaliel, a Jewish rabbi and leader in the 1st century, and possible teacher of the Apostle Paul. The christening of the town with that name name possibly dates to 1840, but the community definitely held that name by the time the first post office was established in 1870.*
Gamaliel sits right above the Kentucky/Tennessee border, southwest of the county seat of Tompkinsville.
The economy of the town, incorporated in 1956, has always depended on agriculture. But churches, a school, and businesses developed to serve the residents, and one of the local merchants was William Page.
Façade and side elevation. Photograph 2019.
At the age of 45, Page married Harriet “Hattie” Howard Page, and it appears that shortly thereafter (around 1904), the couple hired local carpenter Isaac Bales to construct a house. And what a house!
Gamaliel in 1931, from the Red Boiling Springs 15-minute topographic quadrangle map.
While the form of the house is essentially a T-plan, the 1.5-story frame house just drips with exterior ornamentation – spindles, finials, turned and chamfered balusters, spandrels, fretwork, and brackets. The effect is of a scrumptious gingerbread treat – perhaps one reason the dwelling was coined “Gingerbread House” in the 1983 historic resources survey form.
Detail of gable and dormer with balcony on the facade of the house.
There’s a front porch – a side porch – AND a small balcony off of the front gable dormer on the upper story of the facade. The gable of the polygonal bay on the facade appears to be clad in historic metal shingles, while the pressed metal shingles gleam brightly on the hip on gable roof (resplendent with numerous snow catchers).
The house in 1983. The exterior appears almost the same today, with the exception of the chimneys, which appear to have been taken down below the roofline. Images on file at the Kentucky Heritage Council.
Although listed as a dry goods merchant in the 1910 census, ten years later Page was working as a truck farmer. Sadly, Hattie would die in 1922, and William followed in 1924. The couple had no children, and the house was sold to Glenn Jackson – the man whose name has been attached to the dwelling for decades.
About two years before I saw the Page/Jackson House, it underwent a restoration and is now available as a vacation rental. I’m delighted that this charming and whimsical dwelling still stands – a testament to the skills of the carpenter, Mr. Bales, and the people that have cared for it over the ensuing years.
*EuroAmerican settlement in the area that would become Gamaliel dates to around 1800.
What a house indeed! Loved seeing it.
Thank you for the article of my house. My wife and I bought the house in 2016 and restored the house. It took about 13 months of work. We now rent it out as an Airbnb. We live next door. The house is indeed solid. All the original framing was with chestnut oak wood. Basically an extinct hardwood now. It was built in 1904 by Isaac Beals. I have been told, the workers camped out behind the house while they were building the house and the ladies in town cooked their meals. Thank you so much for the article. If you are ever around again, let me know and we will go inside.