“Tannery Owner Adam Hickman built this Carpenter Gothic House as a wedding present for his daughter. The house has three steeply pitched front gables of varying sizes have bargeboards dripping with wooden icicles. Along with a large leaded bay window and a wraparound porch with sawn balustrades and custom columns, the house sports enough ornate decoration to make it a startling addition to sedate Main Street.” (Anne Carter Lee, “The Cave House”)
“In 1949 Alice Brown Hilton, widow of James Hilton…purchased the property. A long-time supporter of the Barter Theatre, Mrs. Hilton deeded the house to the theatre’s founder, Robert Porterfield.” (King, p.2)
This picture, probably taken around 1969 when this portion of Main St. was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register, does not show the Cave House at its present day, refurbished best. Situated across Main St. from The Tavern, the Adam Hickman House (aka “The Cave House”) is the centerpiece of Old Abingdon. There are lots of more attractive houses and some, like the nearby Bank or the William Pitt House just across White’s Alley (also built by Adam Hickman), with more historic significance, but none with as much charm and character. Behind the house is an outbuilding which sits over the caves where the wolves of Daniel Boone legend supposedly lived, giving the location the title “Wolf Hills”. The eastern portion of the lot, next to the Gibson House, was where the Swedenborgian church was located.
Plumb Alley and the “All Shall Be Well Labyrinth”
Having set the scene by mentioning the caves behind the Adam Hickman House and the site of the Swedenborgian church close by, we would be remiss not to mention attractions that lay behind the Hickman/Cave House. The structure where the caves are located backs on to Plumb Alley. Across the alley is the site of the “All Shall Be Well” Labyrinth. According to Garrett Jackson, “The property on which this labyrinth is located was used as a meditative garden for the,”church.” (Jackson, “Dedication…”, p. 3). Plumb Alley offers a scenic by-way through the middle of town and access to any number of places to find lunch or just a cup of coffee. The Labyrinth continues to offer a peaceful enclave from the bustle of downtown. As always, Abingdon has the best of both worlds.
- Anne Carter Lee, “The Cave House,” [Abingdon, Virginia]. SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabriell Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012. Online: https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-02-WS3
- Nanci King, Places In Time,Vol.I, Abingdon, Virginia, 1778-1880 (see also: “James and Alice Hilton in Abingdon, Virginia,” Robert Preston Warren, HSWCVa, Series II, No. 48 (2011)
- W. Garrett Jackson, “A History of the Abingdon Society of the Church of the New Jerusalem (Swedenborgian),” HSWCVa, Series II, No. 49 (2012)
- The Virginia Department of Historic Resources: Abingdon Historic District 140-0037
- Abingdon Meditation Labyrinth
Next: How the Lumber Boom and the Chestnut Blight Changed the Face of Whitetop