Sergeant Alvin C. York State Historic Park honored by the Tennessee Historical Commission for the successful restoration of the Honeymoon House.
Park Manager Nate Dodson said the annual award recognizes entities including state and local governments and historical societies for excellence in historic preservation. Dodson said the 1940s residence served as the home for Sergeant York’s son and his new wife.
“For us, we felt like this is something that will bring the entire York farm, the viewscape of the farm into the era of the 1940s or so when the house was built and every building has now been restored and updated to historical accuracy,” Dodson said. “So it was it was a part of a larger viewshed of the farm itself.”
Dodson said several newlywed family members lived there over the following decades. The structure had sat vacant since 1980 and was previously placed on a state demolition list due to significant water damage and a failing foundation.
“We felt like, hey, this building is is actually probably there’s there’s elements of it that are certainly worth preserving and saveable, you know, lots of original wood and windows and doors and things that could be saved if if we did it right then and there,” Dodson said. “So we applied for a a grant from the Tennessee Historic Commission in the amount of $100,000.”
Dodson said the park also secured a $10,000 federal preservation grant to fund the project. The restoration involved a combination of professional contractors and park staff who performed hands-on work such as reglazing and reglassing the original windows.
“I think the certificate of merit, you know, like I say, highlights those those places that have done significant work for historic preservation, cultural resources and so I feel like it’s just a it’s certainly a a pat on the back for for what we’ve been able to accomplish and makes us feel that that it was very impactful and useful for the site, you know, going into the future, 50, 100 years from now, that that building is now saved and so the certificate of merit means a lot just because it’s recognizing that fact,” Dodson said.
Dodson said the park chose to utilize adaptive reuse by converting the building into a ranger station and office space. This functional use fulfills a management plan for the site that was originally developed in the late 1980s.
“We feel that the the preservation methods and approach that we took with the honeymoon house we can now apply to other structures and hopefully bring all of them up to up to standard,” Dodson said. “There are other structures on the park that that do need that same attention and care and so we felt like we learned a lot through the process with this small, very small house that we can now apply to the York home itself, which is a two-story structure that Sergeant York lived in, the York Bible School, which is a building that he also builds in the 40s that has seen quite a bit of disrepair in over the years.”
Dodson said the project successfully preserved approximately 85 to 90 percent of the original building material. Prior to the restoration, the honeymoon house was the only structure on the York farm that remained untouched and appeared abandoned to visitors.
“I guess if if folks took one thing away, try to try to find that list of recipients and maybe try to go and visit those sites because they are doing some great things,” Dodson said.
