Louisa — Even with decades of decay evident, the old stone-walled home near Louisa’s city limits has caused thousands of passersby to imagine what the place was like when it was alive and what could be done with it today.

For years, vines grew up the old walls and weeds obscured the nearby family cemetery by mid-summer. Vandals have marked the interior and exterior of the home with graffiti ranging from phallic symbols to the names “Foghat” and “Punkey Brewster.”

Significant interior portions remain relatively intact. A bright blue room can be seen to the left of the front door and a wooden stairway is visible from the front windows. Heavy floorboards are in place, although missing in many places, and old paint inside and out is checkered and peeling and bricks are missing or misplaced from the tops of four chimneys.

While the main house is multicolored sandstone, rear portions of the same structure as well as a shed and a three-bay garage, are built from what look like WPA cut stone typically used for many area gymnasiums and public buildings. The shed has July 15, 1932, scratched into the concrete below the cut stone.

An ancient-looking maple tree stands to the right of the house and appears to have been “bowled” like an orchard peach tree, possibly to allow children to use the lower limbs as a natural tree house. It is flanked by an old pine tree on the other side and the remnant of an old well is visible with what may be a grindstone or millstone on top.

With Martin County entrepreneur Jim Booth as the new owner, however, the property is already starting to echo its former glory.

The area around the house has been recently landscaped by excavator and bulldozer operators who cleared the generations of weed growth and gave the land a gentle slope. Hydroseed grass was being sprayed over the grounds Nov. 9 as the heavy-equipment operators loaded their machines, thankful to have finished their work before winter weather set in.

Booth said he hasn’t decided what to do with the old house and property.

“I am proud to have had the opportunity to purchase the Garred-Burgess estate on Route 23 in Louisa. I realize there is a lot of history regarding this property and the Burgess home and am now in the process of restoring the grounds surrounding the home,” Booth said.

“The home is in very bad condition, but I believe structurally it can be saved and remodeled at some point in time. I do not have any immediate plans for the property, but I am looking forward to the development and potential of this parcel.”

According to the official history of Lawrence County, the structure is known as the Garred-Burgess House, and has been called “the most commodious stone house in the Sandy Valley.” The home, as well as a burial vault and chapel, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The two-story sandstone house was built by Ulysses and David W. Garred around 1850 utilizing hewn stones of irregular shape and size, including several “extraordinarily large” stones. The property was purchased by Ulysses and David Garred’s parents, David and Jennie, in 1820. The front of the house has five widely spaced bays for windows and large masses of stone were left bare, and the ends of the main block have no window bays.

Local historians note “Garred” wasn’t the family’s actual name. The name change resulted from David’s construction of a Greek Revival style burial vault in about 1835. The vault was the first of its kind to be built in the area and was used as a landmark by riverboat captains because it could be seen for two miles in either direction. While the sides of the vault were made of native stone, the east-facing entrance slab was marble quarried in Vermont, then shipped to Kentucky from New Orleans up the Mississippi River and the Ohio River before being delivered to the Louisa area and hauled by an ox team to the burial vault site.

Once the Vermont marble arrived at the homestead near Louisa, it became apparent the family name, “Garrett,” had been spelled incorrectly. Since a correction would have involved too much time, money and effort, the mistake remained intact and Ulysses, who was elected to the state legislature in 1848, adopted the spelling and passed it along to following generations.

The Garred brothers divided the family property later in life, with Ulysses taking the stone house and surrounding land while his younger brother David adopted the adjacent property to the south.

The stone house later served as a hotel, and was described in 1887 by William Ely in The Big Sandy as “second to no other hostelry in the valley.”

The stone house was most recently home to Dr. Francis E. Burgess, who practiced medicine in the home for many years and often wrote poetry about topics dear to his heart — including the sandstone domicile.

Former Louisa Mayor Bill Jackson said the cut stone home, as well as a nearby Methodist church building vacant for decades, are among Lawrence County’s most significant historical structures.

“Those two things are part of our heritage — and we’ve lost most of our heritage,” Jackson said. “There’s been no modernization and that house, in itself, is a museum.”

While it may be impractical, Jackson said he would like to see the old home restored without the addition of modern appliances or utilities, “just to show how turn-of-the-century people lived.”

Jackson said his mother-in-law often spoke about things inside the home when Dr. Burgess lived there, including a collection of cast iron cookware and everything needed to make lye soap. Jackson said he didn’t know Dr. Burgess well, although he often received phone calls from him.

“He used to call me when I was mayor and read me poetry,” Jackson recalled, citing impressions of the doctor as a quiet man who was well-liked and remembered by many as very handsome. The former mayor said Burgess became physically reclusive in his later years but continued to contribute to the community’s entertainment.

“He socialized through the telephone,” Jackson said, explaining Burgess enjoyed sharing his poetry with many people. Burgess’ poems, “probably have more historical value than anything I’ve seen,” said Jackson, an enthusiastic student of local history.

In his poetry, Burgess often wrote about the people, land, animals and commerce of the area. His passion for the old stone home and surrounding land was apparent in an abundance of his verses.

“Many people tried to get to get that property from him, but he wasn’t interested in anything they had to offer,” Jackson said.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.