Located in the rolling hills of the Oostanaula Valley of southern McMinn County, Tennessee, was a productive farm of 1,000 acres. The central building on the farm was a Federal style hall and parlor plan house built circa 1820 by John McClatchey, a surveyor from North Carolina.

Born in Iredell County NC, November 30, 1769, John McClatchey crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and became actively engaged as a surveyor in Buncome County, NC. He bought land in North Ashville on Glenn Creek (now Reed Creek) in 1805 and married Elizabeth Patton, daughter of Col. John and Mallory Patton.  Here they had three Children, Aldophus Patton born 1805, Mary Ann Mallory born 1814 and Wiley Jarrett born 1819.

About 1818 John moved from Glen Creek to Fairview and there he served as County Marshall; at which time he directed the Federal Census.

News from the fertile land in the Tennessee River Valley kept coming back to the French Broad settlement.  John soon took his family beyond the mountains into the newly formed county of McMinn and settled on the Eastanalee Creek where he built a home, named Sweet Briar and a mill.  They were active in the Methodist Church and the three children married there.

McClatchey Mill became a thriving center because of its tannery, its sawmill and forge as well as marble works and extensive farming enterprise.  John McClatchey died in 1840 and is buried across the road from his home.

In 1840 additions were made to the house and again in 1870.  Each remodeling added architectural elements distinctive of the time; Greek Revival and Victorian respectively.  The house illustrates the evolutionary development of these styles in a rural farmhouse of Southeast Tennessee.

Additional buildings in view of the property, but not included in the sale of Sweet Briar Hill are a two story rectangular brick woolen mill built circa 1875, a square one story brick post office/commissary built circa 1885 and a large dairy barn built circa 1890.

Once in addition to these buildings were a grist mill and saw mill circa 1830, dairy barns 1890, a stone dam 1830, blacksmith and carpenter shops 1850 and an overshot waterwheel used to pump water to the house 1870.

The house at Sweet Briar Hill incorporates handmade bricks and timber from the property.  many of the original windows remain as does the window glazed wood door with the original hand-forged iron strap hinges and box lock.

The farm was originally Indian land known as the Hiwassee Territory.  In 1860 the sons of John McClatchy, Wiley and Aldophus were prosperous in their mills and shops which now included a tanning shop besides the saw mill and blacksmith shop, carpentry shop and cotton mill.

On December 24, 1862 the property was sold for $25,000 Confederate money to James Getty who lived in neighboring Meigs County and operated a successful milling business.  As the success of the mill grew, a small community developed around it known as Sanfordville, named after E.J. Sanford, officer in the Knoxville Woolen Mill.  The farm has changed hands several times over the last 200 years of existence and has had extensive renovation. It was listed on the Nation Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Click here to view Sweet Briar Hill Registration