This old house sits in a big curve on the way towards Lynchburg, Tennessee. It’s almost impossible to miss the stately house with double chimneys and large pastures full of cattle.
This home has long been a landmark in this community. It originally belonged to the Pratt family, with no indication of what year it was built. John Wallis, executor of the Pratt estate, sold the land containing 312 acres and the home in 1859 to a Dr. Ambrose (A. L.) Parks. Parks was a physician who completed his medical training in New York and married Miss Nancy Walker who was from Lynchburg.
The property used to have a cistern that provided a constant supply of water. For the most part, the home has remained similar to original condition. After the death of Dr. Parks, the home was aquired by Mr. and Mrs. Joe Kimery. They lived here for several years and then it was bought by Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Kimery who remodeled the home some.
Perhaps this home’s biggest claim to fame is that it was a location for filming in the movie “The Green Mile”. This was the warden’s home. For the film, they built an addition onto the right side of the home. They removed the addition when filming completed.
I spoke with the man who lives here last year. He still farms the land and seemed happy living here.
Update – I learned of the passing of the sweet man that lived here. He was renting this beautiful home. It is still privately owned.
3 responses to “Dr Ambrose Parks House, Shelbyville”
Ambrose Lee Parkes is my 1st Cousin 5x removed. This was written by his great-granddaughter, Anne Ruth Gammill Noblitt (1905-2010), who lived to be 105 years old from Tullahoma, TN. She was a beautiful woman and fellow Parkes family researcher. “Ambrose Lee Parkes, son of Martin L. and Susan B. Parkes, was the great-grandfather of the compiler, Anne Gammill Noblitt. He was born July 20, 1821 and was a physician, having received a degree from the University of New York. It is written in Latin and a priest at St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Tullahoma translated it several years ago from a copy. It was on sheepskin and dated 1847. Dr. Ambrose Lee Parkes married Nancy Marcella Walker, youngest daughter of Andrew W. Walker and wife, Elizabeth Motlow, in Lincoln County, TN about Aug. 21, 1849. In 1859 they bought 312 acres in the 23rd District of Bedford County. The house on the property, bought from George and Mary Linn Pratt, was built by Mary’s father. Dr. Parkes died in Tullahoma in 1891, having moved there when his health began to fade. In the will of Dr. Parkes, probated in Bedford County, he gave his wife Nancy the home in Tullahoma and stated the farm was to be sold. It was bought by two daughters and their husbands, Laura and Joe Kimery and Kate and Frank Hix.” Ambrose Lee was named after his grandfather, Ambrose Parkes of Wilkes County, NC.
Thanks so much for the information John! I knew this one would have a lot of history. It’s such a lovely home with so many stories it could tell.
Need to talke to you about these houses my email address is belan123@gmail.com phon number 011972546970210