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History of 
207 Main Street


Our Queen Anne Victorian home was built in 1906 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The structure's exterior still has the original tin shingle roof and wood lapboard siding which is painted as an American Victorian Painted Lady with several colors. The primary colors are aqua and pink.

The original interior wood trim, heart of pine floors and four tiled fireplace hearths and wood mantels are intact. There are double nine foot tab pocket doors between the parlor and formal dining room with a single pocket door between the entry hall and parlor. A built-in china cabinet with a glass door graces the former Butler's pantry.  First floor ceilings reach a height of eleven and a half feet. Since Wartrace did not have electricity until 1910 much of the construction and finish work was done by hand.


In 1904 prominent Wartrace resident E.L. Blackman, at age 27, purchased the Lot at 207 E. Main from M.D. and Julia A. Record for $400. Mr. Blackman was president of the Bedford County Bank and mayor of Wartrace for 25 years. A newspaper account in August of 1921 credits Mr. Blackman with saving the lives of two young boys who fell into nearby Garrison Creek which was flooded due to heavy rains. He died in 1934 at age 57 in a Nashville hospital. Inside the Wartrace city limits State Highway #64 is named Blackman Boulevard in his honor. Your innkeepers are in possession of a formal dinner jacket owned by Mr. Blackman.

    
   
E.L. Blackman


In 1906 E.L. Blackman transferred the property to his brother B.G. Blackman who built the present house the same year. B.G. worked as an agent for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway.
Among subsequent owners is a Reverend Burtis V. Christian who took title to the deed in 1952. The Christian family has a long history in Wartrace beginning with the mercantile firm of Christian & Son founded in 1894 by B.V's father Barney V. Christian, Sr. and grandfather J.A. Christian.

Reverend Christian was simultaneously pastor of three Baptist Churches in Bedford County and traveled extensively as an evangelist. A 1941 newspaper article mentions Christian's returning to Wartrace from a trip on which he conducted eight revivals with 82 conversions. His wife, Mildred Christian, was the Wartrace society correspondent for a Shelbyville newspaper for many years.

In later years the property was owned as a rental house with various tenants.  Nashville residents and future innkeepers Jerry and Janet Fox acquired the property in 1996 and began restoration of the house as a Bed & Breakfast.