Date:  June 2013

Image Number:   CG3333cd11_2013

Comments:   The Thomas Staples House at 240 Jackson Street was the home of Thomas and Ann (Tompkins) Staples.  The front core of the house is one of the oldest in Scottsville, dating from circa 1790.  The front structure is wood frame, clad with horizontal beaded weatherboard, most of which survives.  The front facade is topped by a large gable and includes a one-story porch supported by five square posts with chamfered edges and ornamental latticed railings.  This original core of the building included four chimney stacks, two at each end of the structure.  The two-storied addition at the back of the house was added later and appears to be the addition of another house that had been damaged by flooding lower in the town.  During a previous renovation, this rear addition at the stud-level showed ghost windows and doors that had been plastered over in the 200+ years of the house's history.  Additionally silt was discovered in the foundation of this rear portion, indicating that this addition was originally situated lower in town where floodwaters embedded silt in its foundation.  Lastly, another addition was added to the east part of the original structure (at photo left).

Thomas Staples was a leading Scottsville merchant during the early 19th century.  The Staples house overlooks the Disciples of Christ Church below it, a church constructed by James Turner Barclay with the help of Thomas Staples in 1846.  Staples served as an Elder for the Disciples of Christ Church under Barclay's leadership.  After Barclay was sent as the church's first missionary to Jerusalem in 1950, Staples became the the leader of this church in Scottsville.  Thomas Staples died on February 12, 1862, and is buried in the Staples Family Cemetery on a private farm, The Best of What's Around (formerly Church Hill Farm) near Keene, VA.  His wife, Ann, died after October 1860 and is believed to be buried in the Staples Family Cemetery as well.

Following is a view of this house taken from its north side plus a view looking directly at its front door on Jackson Street: