In late 1905 George G. Tucker (1869-1945) and his wife Mazeppa Tucker (1868-1951) purchased this parcel of land from E. L. Mosby (1863-1942). This parcel is part of the larger Lot 302, which also contains the antebellum houses Burton Place and Hamner House. The exact date of construction is unknown, but it is likely it was built soon after the land was purchased, between 1905 and 1910.
The Tuckers sold the house to Ernest Thomas (1890-1958) and his wife Bessie Thomas (1893-1960) in 1918, who lived in the house over forty years. Robert and Jean Dyches bought the house in 1960, and they sold it to Albert Bonds in 1962. A year later, the house was sold to Sara B. Simpson (1908-2002). Mrs. Simpson owned the house until 1988, when she sold the house to Michael and Rhonda Bonds. After five years, the house was sold to Gary and Lisa Hickman who resided here from 1993 to 2002. Timothy and Angie Vanzant owned the house from 2002 to 2006, when they sold the home to the current owners, Terry and Lora Rhea.
The house is named “Windermere” after the area of the Lake Country in Britain. At some point, one of the owners apparently owned a monkey, which fascinated the locals who would frequently drive by the house to get a look at the monkey. The downstairs was used as a beauty shop at some point.
Windermere is one of the few “transitional” houses in Holly Springs, built between 1900 and 1910 after the Queen Anne Victorians fell out of favor but before the heyday of the Craftsmans. It has architectural elements from both the Victorian and Colonial Revival styles. Windermere is very similar to other transitional houses in Holly Springs, including Coopwood and the Wright House, both on College Avenue.
Windermere is a one and a half story cross gable frame house, with a flared hip roof porch with Tuscan columns and a steeply-pitched prominent front gable.
Thanks to Lora Rhea for providing much of the information on this house.
Hill Country History 
Love the history. I was a newspaper editor there in the 1980s and enjoyed these treasures. I lived at Sandusky Place for several months a d was convinced it was haunted!
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Thanks Kenny! My good friends Jim and Jeanne Knox live in Sandusky Place now. It is a great house.
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I do not remember Sara Simpson living here at all. She and Mack lived on Salem in the house nextt to Ben Seale’s until building the house on Craft where each lived until their respective deaths. I spent a good bit of time in my teen years in the Craft Street house since Sara’s niece was my friend.. She may have owned the house on Memphis Street but I do not remember her living there.. During my teen years, KB and Ez Thomas’ s family lived there, and Ez had a beauty shop there.
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Betty, that makes sense. I can only go by my deed research, but you are right that someone can own the house without actually living there! I’ll change “lived” to “owned” and fix that problem. Thanks for your input!
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Phillip the beauty shop was upstairs not downstairs. And I believe Sara rented it out. I would love to find out more history about the house and who all lived in it.
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Great readinng your blog post
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