The Shadow
MERRY HOUSE — The Merry House is located across the Jackson River from Selma near Clifton Middle School and Mountain View Elementary School. It was built in 1820 and owned by Dr. James Merry, who along with his brother, Samuel, also owned property where downtown Covington is now located. The house has fallen into disrepair and the Alleghany Historical Society is pursuing efforts to save the historic plantation house. (Photo Courtesy Alleghany Historical Society)
MERRY HOUSE — The Merry House is located across the Jackson River from Selma near Clifton Middle School and Mountain View Elementary School. It was built in 1820 and owned by Dr. James Merry, who along with his brother, Samuel, also owned property where downtown Covington is now located. The house has fallen into disrepair and the Alleghany Historical Society is pursuing efforts to save the historic plantation house. (Photo Courtesy Alleghany Historical Society)
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By Paul Linkenhoker
LOW MOOR — The Alleghany Historical Society recently held its fall informational meeting at the historic Oakland Church in Selma. The church was built in the 1830s and was part of the Presbyterian faith.
L.M. (Buddy) Carter, III, presented an excellent program detailing some of the history of the church as well as the home place of his ancestors, the Merry Plantation House. The house is located on the property across the Jackson River from Selma and near Clifton Middle School and Mountain View Elementary School.
Originally a mission church of the Covington (First) Presbyterian Church, Oakland Church would later become the mother church to congregations in Clifton Forge, Iron Gate, Low Moor and Rich Patch.
It is most noted for its role as a hospital to Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The graves of 18 soldiers are in the church cemetery. They died as a result of a measles epidemic and not from battle. Two nurses, Lizzie Irvine and Susan Damewood, are also buried in the church yard.
The church closed Dec-ember 31, 1962. While the members were requested to transfer to Low Moor, Buddy’s mother, Margaret Gleason Carter, never moved her membership.
The Merry house was built in 1820 and originally owned by Dr. James Merry. Merry and his brother, Samuel, owned the property along the Jackson River where downtown Covington is located. The brothers laid out lots and the town was incorporated in 1819. It was named for War of 1812 hero, General Leonard Covington.
The house and property was sold at auction in 1831 and purchased by Douglas B. Layne. It was sold to Edmund Fontaine in 1858 who sold it to the Chesa-peake and Ohio Railway in 1878. Buddy’s grandfather, Lee M. Gleason, bought the property in 1897 from the C&O. He and his wife, Mary Harris Gleason, raised 10 children and a foster daughter in the house.
Gleason made a number of improvements to the house and property. A two story addition was added to the house with a kitchen and dining area on the first floor and two bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. The house had a gravity fed system for running water. It also had electricity when the Gleasons lived on the property.
Buddy’s mother was one of the 10 Gleason children and she married L. M. Carter, Jr. The couple lived on the old home place and were the last occupants of the house.
Prior to Buddy’s birth in the mid-1940s, the family moved with their two daughters to Selma. Buddy’s father determined that raising three small children in the remote location was not wise.
The property was isolated as there was no bridge and the only access was by boat or ford. Two swinging bridges to the property had long since been destroyed by floods. Mr. Carter’s family operated a store in Selma for a number of years.
The Alleghany Highlands School Board received a grant of 30 acres of land from the heirs of Lee and Mary Gleason in 1999 for the purpose of building a new middle school. When it was determined that a new elementary school would also be built, the school board purchased an additional 20 acres. The schools opened in the fall of 2001.
The Alleghany County School Board later considered the option of building a new high school and additional land was purchased from the Gleason heirs. Due to a lack of funding, the high school project was abandoned.
Today, the Gleason heirs still own the old house and approximately 65 acres. The house has fallen into a state of disrepair and the Alleghany Historical Society is pursuing efforts to save the historic plantation house.
