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History of Scuffle Hill House
By Virginia Windle
The following Martinsville Bulletin "Stroller" article gave credit to Virginia Windle for this history of the Scuffle Hill House:

On Feb. 29, 1904, C. B. Bryant and wife Linn W. Bryant deeded 10.58 acres of land with all improvements, lying on Church Street, to Benjamin F. Stevens of St. Louis, Mo. In 1905, Co. Stevens, former president of Liggett and Myers Tobacco Co., built a three-story mansion on this land and it was named "Oak Hall". At the same time he built the house he built a "damn good garage" and someone asked Col. Stevens why and he replied, "So it will last a lifetime."

The daughter of Col Stevens and her husband, Col. Pannill Rucker, lived in this house until it burned Feb. 19, 1917. The building was valued at not less than $75,000 while the insurance was only $20,000. All the contents of the house were destroyed and the insurance on the contents was $10,000. The loss of both the house and contents was more than $125,000. Col. Rucker began rebuilding the house, using the four walls of the original house left standing after the fire, and reduced it to a two-story structure, but Rives S. Brown actually completed the building. In 1920, Brown purchased the house and 12 lots for $50,550. The house was estimated to have cost $75,000 to build.

This house was described in the Henry Bulletin April 9, 1920, as "located on an eminence, with views stretching off on clear days to the inspiring heights of the Blue Ridge in Franklin and Patrick counties, and even so far away as Moore's Knob in North Carolina, 50 miles or more; it occupies an inspiring site." Mr. And Mrs. Rives S. Brown and Son Rives Spottswood Brown, Jr. lived in the house until it was sold to William Letcher Pannill in 1933. Mr. And Mrs. Pannill and their seven children (six daughters and one son) moved into the house and Mr. Pannill named this handsome Georgian style house "Scuffle Hill" because it was "located on a hill and he had to scuffle to pay for it."

As the years passed, the Pannill children married and moved out. Mr. Pannill died (1940), and Mrs. Pannill was the lone occupant when Christ Episcopal Church purchased it on May 28, 1959 for $100,000. Mrs. Pannill moved into the remodeled Carriage House, which originally was built as the Damn Good Garage, and was living there at the time of her death.

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