An old house filled with old stuff. A complicated past. And one thing that grosses kids out.
The nearly 200-year-old Davies Manor in Bartlett has been open as a museum for 50 years. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
The history of Davies Manor is complicated in more ways than one.
To start, no one is quite sure what year construction began (best guess is 1831-32) on the one-room cabin that would eventually become the Davies plantation, now considered the oldest extant home in Shelby County. Historians aren’t even sure exactly who built that first cabin, although they have made educated guesses.
But that historical mystery pales in comparison to the fact that this property in the far reaches of the county served for decades as a plantation where enslaved people lived, worked and died.
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Jody Callahan
Jody Callahan graduated with degrees in journalism and economics from what is now known as the University of Memphis. He has covered news in Memphis for more than 25 years.
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