| Constructed early in the nineteenth century, Meadvilla is one of the most architecturally and historically significant residences in Adams County. Located in the old town of Washington, once the territorial capital of Mississippi, Meadvilla is the finest surviving residence in the Washington community that dates from the territorial period. Historically, the house gains significance from its early use as a tavern for the town of Washington. A very early wood-framed I-house, it originally had two doors on the lower story; the door configuration was changed in mid-twentieth century. It was originally built as the home of Cowles Mead, who served as Secretary of the Mississippi Territory and as acting territorial governor in 1807 when Governor Robert Williams was absent. The house was the home of the noted naturalist and historian B.L.C. Wailes from 1828 until his death in 1862. The following was compiled by Mimi Miller, Historic Natchez Foundation, c.1986: Meadvilla was probably built not long after Cowles Mead acquired the property for 400 dollars in 1808 (Adams County Deed Book H:3). On April 13, 1813, an advertisement in the WASHINGTON REPUBLICAN for the Washington Hotel ["Sign of the Spread Eagle"] informed the public that Moses Richardson had opened a "House of Entertainment in the large and commodious house formerly occupied by Colonel Cowles Mead, in the town of Washington." Cowles Mead sold the house in 1817 to Nathaniel Ware for $3000 (Deed Book Q:199). Meadvilla is a two-story, Federal style frame residence with outside-end brick chimneys that break away from the house on the second-story level. The same chimney feature exists also at Propinquity, located not far from Meadvilla. The protected façade is finished in typical territorial fashion with horizontal tongue-and-groove boards and is elaborated with a molded chair rail and baseboard. The interior is beautifully elaborated with gouged-carved cornices, mantel pieces, and chair rail. The first-story façade of the house, documented in photographs as originally a five-bay composition with two transomed doorways, was altered in the mid-twentieth century to a six-bay configuration with a remodeled pedimented doorway occupying the center bay of the five northern bays. The house did not originally have an interior stairway but relied on an original surviving staircase in the rear gallery (now enclosed) and a non-extant stairway on the front gallery. This house was listed on the National Register on 17 November 1982, with 18.45 acres of land. It is mentioned in 'The Architecture of Natchez before 1830,' in "Natchez before 1830" (1989) (p. 146). [HABS: MS-7 (as “Cowles Meade House”) (five photographs – three exterior and two interior – made by James Butters in April 1936)] It was listed as one of Mississippi's "10 Most Endangered Historic Places" in 1998 because of its deteriorated condition. |