Clay County nearing completion of a year-long restoration project to preserve the original law office of Cordell Hull.
The office of the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner included strengthening weak walls and floors. President and Director of the Clay County Museum Beverly Hollifield said the building had been moved approximately three times from its original location and had fallen into disrepair.
“He was such a great statesman and that he did so many things for the United States,” Hollifield said, “It comes back into Clay County as well and the fact that he grew up here, he had his beginning here and he he began to learn here, I think it’s important for people to know.”
Hollifield said the museum worked closely with Hull’s great-niece, Susie Etheridge, to acquire authentic artifacts for the display. Hollifield said these items include documents from the United Nations and a witness chair used in the courtroom where Hull once presided as a judge.
Hull was known as the “Father of the United Nations” for his vision in creating the organization.
“We were able to restore the building back to pretty much its initial state,” Hollifield said. “We were able to use most of the wood that was already there. Some of the wood was given to us by the Briggs family from a house they had here in Celina in Clay County that also was built around the same time. So we were able to keep the heritage of the building in its original state, being the original kind of wood that was there.”
Hollifield said the project was funded through a Tennessee state budget appropriation, while other museum improvements were supported by grants from the Tennessee Association of Museums and the Tennessee History Group Committee. Hollifield said the restored office is located next to the museum and is connected by a walkway for visitors to access.
“I think it’s the fact that you know that he stood in this room,” Hollifield said. “You know that some of the the artifacts there are things that no one else might have an opportunity to see unless they come to the museum and see it there. I think it’s the beauty of of seeing that people preserve history.”
Hollifield said the museum also recently completed work to enclose a pavilion housing a restored steam tractor and vintage farm equipment to protect them from weather damage. Hollifield said the pavilion was finished with donated barn wood from the Bobby Arms family to maintain a rustic appearance.
“And I think seeing what he accomplished and knowing that he grew up in rural America says, ‘You know, I might have grown up in rural America but I can be the Secretary of State if I want to be,'” Hollifield said. “It’s going to take hard work, it’s going to take dedication, but I have the same opportunity as anyone else. So I think that’s one of the things I see in it, is that people can aspire to do some of the things he did or to aspire to do other things because they know, well, if he could come out of here and become a statesman, I could come out of here and become whatever I want to do.”
Hollifield said the restoration work should be fully complete within the next month.
