LeRoy Pope House (Poplar Grove)

The story

Behind the sketch.

Poplar Grove, better known as the LeRoy Pope House, was built about 1814 for the man who briefly persuaded the young town to call itself "Twickenham". Tradition says some of its brick came down the Tennessee River, and the house soon became a social and political gathering place. Andrew Jackson is said to have stayed here after the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, exactly the sort of guest a wealthy frontier booster would want everyone to remember. The house later served in a variety of roles, including use connected with military and educational institutions. Through all of those changes, it remained one of the clearest symbols of Huntsville's shift from raw frontier settlement to an ambitious Southern town.

Neighborhood

Twickenham

Book location

Page 59