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The fence has been removed between the road and the row of 19 beautiful hard maple trees at the Maggie and Laura Adams home in Atlas - where Pike county had its start -- three miles south of Rockport ---
but when the new road is built these lovely old trees will not have to be sacrificed.
The Adams home, as many know, is the old brick homestead of Colonel William Ross now 118 years old. The home surmounts a steep sloop within the little town. Age has made necessary several changes, that have altered the appearance of the original homestead,
the house in which Nancy Ross, first white child in Pike county, was born, but it remains dignified and still abounds in history.
A relative of Colonel Ross, the grandfather of Miss Maggie and Miss Laura Adams, bought the place from the builder.
The Barry Adage July 5, 1939 cw
The Adams Mansion
Photo contributed by Shari Borrowman -- Information from Kathy Robinson
I put out a request on my Facebook page & lo and behold, a cousin of mine is married to a descendant of the Adams family.
Her mother-in-law (Mary Dell Adams Borrowman) owns the land & actually was the one who finally had to tear the old house down.
She put a photo of the home on Facebook and I have attached it here.
(The photo was very light so Billie Browning has darkened it a bit).
The back of the photo says July, 1, 1932, but there is snow on the ground in the photo.
Since there aren't many leaves on the trees, we have come to the conclusion that somebody
was messing with somebody else when they put that date on the photo. The granddaughter
of the woman in the photo says that it is Dorothy Adams Agee.
The request garnered a lot of attention on Facebook from local people who had always wanted to go inside the house &
look around. The story I always heard was that it was part of the Underground Railroad and that there was a tunnel under the house
to hide runaway slaves in.
Lots of other folks have heard the same tale it seems, based on my feedback on Facebook.
My cousin is supposed to ask her mother-in-law about the rumor, as well.
The Adams-Dustin Cemetery is way up on the hill/bluff behind the house and the road to the cemetery goes right
by the site of the old homeplace.
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