Sabine Hill

Brigadier General Nathaniel Taylor began building Sabine Hill between 1814 and 1816, after returning home to Elizabethton following the War of 1812. By 1796, when Carter County was formed and Tennessee became a state, Taylor owned of land. That same year, he became the first sheriff of Carter County and one of the first officers in the new state militia. He later served in the Tennessee General Assembly. After Taylor returned from the war, he sought to build an impressive home for his family. Taylor named the house Sabine Hill, apparently in imitation of Sabine Hall, the Virginia estate of Landon Carter, His wife, Mary "Polly" Patton Taylor, completed the project circa 1818–20, after her husband's death. She outlived her husband by 37 years, presiding over Sabine Hill until her death in 1853. ==Description==

The house is built on a two-story I-house plan with a five-bay front facade. It has a foundation of limestone quarried in the local area. The exterior walls are built from logs that are completely covered by clapboard siding. The floors are random-width pine laid over hand-hewn timber joists. There are brick chimneys on both ends of the structure. The clapboard siding, a fanlight transom over the front door, and the hand-wrought wood trim in the house's interior appear to have been added a few years after the house was built. Originally the house had a split-shingle roof, which had been replaced by galvanized iron as of 1936, when Sabine Hill was visited for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS). A one-story service wing extends from the rear, in an arrangement that was common at the time the house was built. The HABS analysis observed that the interior details of the house were of particularly high quality. Noteworthy features mentioned included "delicate and almost elaborately carved" fireplace mantels and chamfered joints in the wood paneling on the walls. HABS also saw indications that Sabine Hill's design might have been influenced by architecture in Williamsburg, Virginia, particularly the design features of the Capitol Building there. One design detail noted as similar to features seen in Williamsburg was the use of "marbleized" wood for wainscoting along the stairway. The interior of Sabine Hill also reflected the patriotism of its owners; traces of the original paint indicate that the interior was painted in the colors of the U.S. flag, with white walls, red molding, and blue wainscoting. ==Later history==

In its early decades, Sabine Hill served as both the home of the Taylor family and the headquarters of a large estate that was tended by slaves. ==Preservation==

Sabine Hill was saved from demolition by a group of locals who bought it and held it until it could be purchased by the Tennessee Historical Commission in 2007. The restoration was undertaken by the Tennessee Historical Commission and it is operated as a unit of Sycamore Shoals State Park. It is an excellent example of federal-style architecture. ==References==