Petty House

The story

Behind the sketch.

This handsome 1905 Victorian house was built for Huntsville attorney F. Turner Petty and his wife, Margaret. Its later bungalow-style porch softened the older two-story design, but the most memorable part of the property's history is a family mystery. Petty disappeared in 1916, and a 1918 deed recorded Margaret selling the house for $1,300, after being "abandoned and deserted," with her husband's whereabouts unknown. It is the sort of story that turns an address into a neighborhood legend, part legal document, part heartbreak, and part unanswered question. The house remained, even when one of its owners simply vanished from the record.

Neighborhood

Five Points

Book location

Page 94