What Could Have Been

Hurst Mansion

Purdy, Tennessee

     This house was the home of Col. Fielding Hurst, a man who made himself notorious during the Civil War (and a person whose story is a topic for another day).  It is located in Purdy, Tennessee. Today, Purdy is a rural unincorporated community 3.5 miles northeast of Selmer in McNairy County. A failed railroad development in the 1850s kept the community rural and without industries or major business ventures the town of Purdy disappeared in the years following the Civil War. Fielding Hurst (who is my great uncle to the sixth power) had to give up his beloved home because of war debts.  The home changed hands many times in the following years and was finally willed to McNairy County in 1993 in the hopes that it would be preserved.  It sits now in a state of disrepair and ruin.  It has been vandalized many times.  The county does not have the means to restore or maintain this house and its future looks grim. 

    I have had a few people ask me why more wasn't done to preserve my grandparents house.  I can say that several of us thought about it but the economic realities were overwhelming.  Maintaining the house and the land was a full-time job for my grandparents and later for my aunts and uncles.  When it came down to making a decision about what to do with the property selling it to the county so that a much-needed school could be built was the best solution - although is was not the easiest.  What I know is that not one of us would want to see the house falling down and vandalized.  I like to think that my grandfather in particular would have liked the idea of a school being built on the property.  He was a man who valued education.

Drawing of Paulette Elementary

Groundbreaking Scheduled for April 1st, 2010