The Watson Spec House, 407 Chestnut Street

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The Watson Spec House, 407 Chestnut Street

The Colonial Revival cottage at 407 Chestnut Street was built around 1911 by John T. Watson, a local brickmaker, who undoubtedly used his own manufactured materials to construct the unique home. In the years just prior to the building’s construction, Watson removed two outbuildings which had been constructed previously on his own residential lot at 125 Chestnut Street (originally 899 Pine Street). It is certain the house was built, as were many others in the neighboring area, as income property. Three years after its construction Mr. Watson conveyed the house to his daughter Nancey Green Leigh.

The first resident known to live in the house was Alfred E. Tucker who, along with his wife Nora and their two boys, Alfred, Jr. and William, who rented the property probably from the time of its construction until 1919 when Mrs. Leigh sold it to them.

Mr. Tucker was a shoe salesman at Johnson’s Department Store. Alfred was a native of Pitt County, North Carolina where he had lived with his wife before arriving in Danville around 1911. In 1939, Mr. Tucker fell ill and was admitted to General Hospital. Ten days later he passed away of stomach cancer which had spread to his liver. After Alfred’s death, Nora began to take on renters, at one time housing two additional families in the small home. By this means she was able to remain in her home until her own death in 1969. After nearly fifty years as the Tucker home, the house went up for auction.

In 2013, the house was purchased by Lawrence Meder who has meticulously restored this charming home into a beautiful single-family residence. Mr. Meder, a retired US Army colonel, moved to Danville several years ago to join his brother and parents here. He, like his brother Fred, has taken up the mantel of rescuing several of the neighborhood’s endangered properties.


Sources:
Danville Historical Society 2015 Annual Holiday Tour
Census and Vital records found at Familysearch.org
Death notices and other information found in the Danville Register, Danville Bee archives at Newspapers.com
Census, Directory, Newspaper, and other information compiled by Paul Liepe

V.R.
About the
V.R. Christensen is a published author of several works of Historical Fiction, as well as a Neo-Victorian Dystopian series. With a degree in Interior Design, she has been heavily involved in preservation efforts in several of the cities in which she has lived, including Savannah, Georgia and Danville, Virginia, even restoring several historic homes of her own. Her passion, however, is writing, and she feels blessed to have the opportunity to make a living combining her two great passions. She also teaches yoga and writes a monthly newsletter of her own where she discusses issues related to healing, enlightenment, and trauma recovery, as well as her fiction writing and related research.