In 1941, state funds were provided to preserve the site of the Sparta Rock House, and in 1947, restoration was begun. Then in 1959, the site was listed on the Tennessee Historical Register, and in 1973, it received the distinction of being listed on the National Historic Register. Some of the information I’ve found says that visits can be arranged by appointment by calling the Sparta Chamber of Commerce. But even if the Rock House is not open, it’s worth the drive just to walk around the grounds and view the house just from the outside. An old gravel road leads up through the woods on one side of the property. While standing out in the yard near the Rock House, it’s easy to imagine seeing a stage coach coming down over the hill, or a train making a stop nearby, bearing well known visitors such as Andrew Jackson to spend a night or two with his good friend, Samuel Denton. No doubt the tea served to Denton’s prominent guests from that special tea service tasted especially good on a cold winter night spent at the Rock House.

Evidently, Angeline Abigail Denton Campbell Terry lived her life in a pretty ordinary way and didn’t achieve what some might consider great accomplishments, but as demonstrated in the long and lengthy obituary written by her nephew, she lived an exemplary life. Of all the many good things her nephew used to describe an aunt that was evidently very special to him, I especially liked the one that says: "Her life was an application of the cardinal principles of Christianity, void of empty show and hollow pretense, but alive and aglow with good deeds strewn all along her life’s pathway." I couldn’t think of a better way to live. How many people do you know whose life can truthfully be described in this manner?

Some information contained in an additional newspaper article printed many years later tells about the nephew and writer of Mrs. Terry’s obituary, William D. Fiske, a grandson of Dr. Moses Fiske. He is described as having owned and operated a newspaper in Celina for forty years called The Bugle. After his death, his widow, Mrs. Ermine Hooten Fiske, a mother of eight children, took up the work her husband left at his death, and never missed an issue, always getting the paper to press on time. When asked why she continued the work of her husband, she said, "It was his wish that the paper remain in the family, so I could not see the work he loved fall into the hands of someone other than the family." The work involved included the type being set by hand and the sheet run off on an old Washington hand-press which was obsolete even in the day the paper was printed. The forms were inked by a band roller. All three of William D. Fiske and Mrs. Ermine Fiske’s sons were also involved in the newspaper business. The eldest son, Alva Fiske, was connected with the Washington Evening Star in Washington, D.C. The youngest son, Genie Elkin, worked along side his mother following the death of his father, but had been called for a position in the government printing office in Washington, D.C., at the time the newspaper article was written about his parents. Another son, Moses, was also connected with a printing concern in San Antonio, Texas. They each got their beginning in the little shop operated by their parents. It was noted that Mrs. Ermine Fiske was a democrat while her husband voted the Socialist ticket. "We always went to the polls together and voted according to our individual way of thinking," she said. The article concluded by saying that Mrs. Fiske often put in from ten to twelve hours a day in her office, but always found time to manage the affairs of her home. William D. Fiske and wife Ermine Fiske were the parents of the late Mrs. Marie (Fiske) Speck, wife of the late Ray B. Speck, and grandparents of Bill Speck of Livingston.

BACK