BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. — One of the state’s oldest standing houses, believed to have been built as early as 1740, hit the auction block Saturday.
   Yancey’s Tavern was auctioned along with 16 other tracts of land by the family that has owned the real estate since 1889. The home, a barn and the land, somewhere under 20 acres according to owner Connie Redmond, had been in the family for seven generations.
   According to the book "Historic Sites of Sullivan County," the house has served as a residence, a tavern, a stage stop — and one of the earliest homes to the Sullivan County Court.
   The house is two log cabins put together and a rear kitchen that was added later. It has been vacant, save for old furnishings, since 1962. Rann L. Vaulx bought the lot with the house grouped with a lot behind it for $47,000. He said he will be studying the history of the home as work is done to restore it to its original design.
   Plaster will be removed from one side of the house so the logs and chinking will be visible. That side will be turned back into the post office, which it served as from about 1820 to sometime during the Civil War. The other side of the house, which served as a courthouse, tavern and inn, will keep its more updated look.
   "I’d like it if school children could come see it," he said. "It’ll be open to the (Daughters of the American Revolution) and other groups like that."
   Although the belongings were removed, interested buyers still noted the hand-hewn logs, fireplaces and other items that made the house a historian’s dream.
   "We believe they used the trap door in the living room to hide from Indians," Redmond said.
   Furniture was donated to The Exchange Place, including old slave tables, feather beds and rope-strung beds.

This story was published Monday, September 13, 2004