A look inside Ramsey House
By Pete Gawda
“The most costly and most admired building in Tennessee,” according to the 1800 federal census, is located east of Knoxville on Thorngrove Pike.
Ramsey House was built in 1797 by Colonel Francis Alexander Ramsey. Ramsey, who received his title because of service in the militia, had come to the area as a surveyor and surveyed Jefferson, Knox and Blount counties. He learned surveying by working with his cousin James Gettys in laying out the town of Gettysburg.
Ramsey was a founding trustee of Blount College, which became the University of Tennessee. He was also involved in the formation of Knoxville, served in various government positions and was a founder and elder in the nearby Lebanon Presbyterian Church.
Ramsey House, which was the first stone house in Knox County, was built with Tennessee pink marble and blue limestone from a local quarry. The glass in the windows came from France because the colonel thought French glass was smoother and clearer than American glass. The house was designed by British architect Thomas Hope, who is responsible for the original interior and exterior architectural features. At that time, kitchens were separate buildings from the main house because of heat and fire hazards. The kitchen in Ramsey House, built about 1806, was the first attached kitchen in the state. Upstairs over the kitchen are quarters for the household slaves. The house was originally surrounded by a palisade for protection from the Cherokees.
Downstairs, there is a parlor, a central hall and a dining room, which was sometimes used for meetings and church services. The parlor boasts a square piano built in Germany in the 1770s. The parlor and dining room both have framed needlework pieces by the colonel’s daughter, Eliza Jane Ramsey. One lists births in the family, and the other documents deaths in the family. The stairway in the central hall features elaborate carvings designed by Hope. On the second floor, there are three bedrooms.
Notable figures of the era, including William Blount and John Sevier, were guests at Ramsey House.
Although Ramsey House is owned by the Tennessee Association for the Preservation of Antiquities, it has its own board of directors and conducts its own fundraising activities. It is open for public tours Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and hosts school groups to give them an appreciation of their history. School groups have the option of churning butter and making candles. Since one of the offices held by the colonel was court clerk, students also have the opportunity to write a court summons with a quill and ink.
Vintage base ball (original spelling) games are played on the grounds, according to the original rules. There were no gloves, and a ball caught on the first bounce was an out. There was only one game ball. If it was hit into high grass, the game would stop, and all players would help hunt for the ball.
The property was originally named Swan Pond after the large pond on the property. The colonel had the pond drained and farmed the land.
The colonel was married three times and was the father of nine children.
One of the colonel’s sons, James Gettys McGready, was a surgeon for the Confederate army. He was also a tax collector and disbursing officer for the state’s confederate government and wrote “The Annals of Tennessee,” a definitive history of the state. Another son, William Baine Alexander Ramsey, was the first elected mayor of Knoxville.
