Sutherland (1839)

Sutherland, also known as Custer House, was built on the southern edge of the city of Holly Springs in 1839 by Andrew Sherrill. The house sits on the edge of a steep hill and overlooks Hill Crest Cemetery below. Before the town was founded, this area was owned by Delilah Love (1790-1847), a powerful local Chickasaw princess who married two white settlers to the area and gave birth to many children. Love sold much of the land surrounding the original Holly Springs to the new town, including the land Sutherland sits on, before leaving this area and settling in Indian Territory (modern Oklahoma).

Matthew Hearn bought the house in 1842 and lived here with his wife and children until 1858. George W. Garner (1818-1895) and his wife Elizabeth S. Garner (1823-1897) bought the home in 1858 and lived in Sutherland for nearly 40 years. In 1897 the house was bought by J. B. Evans and his wife Sally Powell Evans (1855-1947), who lived here until 1906. Percy H. Anderson (1885-1977) and his family owned the home from 1906 until 1951.

Sutherland was briefly owned by Lila Hetzer in 1951 before it was purchased by Edgar W. Custer (1878-1959) and Lena V. Custer (1889-1976). Edgar Custer was a veteran of the Spanish-American War who met his wife Lena here in Holly Springs shortly after the war. After Lena Custer’s death in 1976, the house was deeded to her daughter, Hazel Custer Walker (1911-2007), who owned the home until 1989. Randall William Douglas (1960-2009) and his wife owned the home for two years, before selling it to Nita Debardeleben in 1991. Between 1997 and 2004 Sutherland was owned by Thomas Hurdle and his mother, Mary Ann Hurdle. Andy Seale owned the house from 2004 until 2016, when Megan Wolfe purchased the house.

According to local legend, one of the previous owners was a portly, 300-pound man who built a custom bathtub in the house which was the largest tub in the area.

Sutherland is a Greek Revival raised-basement frame house, with a single-bay pedimented portico supported by Tuscan piers and a main entrance surrounded by a transom and sidelights.

2 thoughts