Dunvegan (Holly Springs, Mississippi)

Dunvegan, a.k.a. Norfleet-Cochran House is a historic "English Basement" cottage in Holly Springs, Mississippi, USA. It was built in 1845 for Jesse P. Norfleet, a cabinetmaker from Virginia who married the daughter of a prosperous Mississippi planter. Norfleet eventually became a planter and local business owner. In the 1970's the home was renamed Dunvegan for the town of Dunvegan on the Scottish island of Skye.

Dunvegan
U.S. Historic district Contributing property
Dunvegan in 2008.
Location	159 Gholson Avenue West, Holly Springs, Mississippi, U.S.
Coordinates	34°46′00.2″N 89°27′02.3″W
Built	1845
Architectural style	Greek Revival
Part of	Southwest Holly Springs Historic District (ID83000963[1])
Added to NRHP	April 20, 1983

Location

Dunvegan is located at 154 West Gholson Avenue in Holly Springs, Mississippi.[2][3]

History

The land was acquired by Jesse P. Norfleet on January 3, 1845.[4] The cottage, designed in the Greek Revival architectural style, was built later that year.[1][2][5] The rafters were made of pine tree wood while the bricks were handcrafted.[5] Like a traditional English cottage, the bedrooms and the living-rooms are upstairs, while the kitchen and dining-room are in the basement.[5]

Norfleet was a cabinetmaker from Suffolk, Virginia who married Jane H. Carlock, the daughter of Moses Carlock, a Southern planter.[4] His daughter Ada married Henry Oscar Rand; Norfleet's grandson, Frank C. Rand, was the Chairman of the International Shoe Company.[4] Norfleet traded houses with James Jarrell House on September 28, 1861.[4]

T. F. Sigman bought the house in 1886 and owned the house for over 30 years, until 1920. Over the years the front portico received a number of changes.

In 1920, the house was sold to Samuel Vadah Cochran, Sr. (1887-1971) and his wife Rita Binion Cochran (1896-1960). The essay "English Basement Houses" by Hubert H. McAlexander, noted historian of the area, states that Rita Binion Cochran eventually had the portico rebuilt to resemble that of the nearby Featherstone Place, recently renovated by the architect Theodore Link. It remains the house's portico to this day. After Cochran Sr.’s death in 1971, the house was inherited by his son, Samuel Vadah Cochran, Jr. (1918-1995).

S. Vadah Cochran, Jr. was a Professor of English at Memphis State University in Tennessee for twenty-six years as well as a noted painter whose work was exhibited at the Municipal Art Gallery in Jackson, Mississippi. He painted murals inside the house and designed the gardens.[3] Vadah and his wife Doris Sigman Cochran renamed the cottage Dunvegan after the town on the Scottish island of Skye, where his McLeod ancestors originated. They opened it to the public for a tour once a year.[5]

Architectural significance

As a contributing property to the Southwest Holly Springs Historic District,[2] it has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 20, 1983.

References

1. "Southwest Holly Springs Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service. June 1984. Retrieved 2015-09-05. Photos
2. "Dunvegan". Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
3. Bailey, Eileen (July 27, 1998). "HED:Dunvegan". Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2015.
4. McAlexander, Hubert, Jr. (June 1983). "The Norfleets and Their Connections". Old-Timer Press. 2 (11). Ripley, Mississippi. pp. 2–3.
5. Kempe, Helen Kerr (1977). The Pelican Guide to Old Homes of Mississippi: Columbus and the North. Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Publishing Company. p. 83.