205-209 West Main Street
Circa 1820
After losing his Pennsylvania mercantile fortune through his involvement with financier Robert Morris, in 1801 Mr. Samuel D. Jackson purchased large parcels of land and moved his to east Tennessee.
In the 1820's Mr. Jackson built Sisters' Row for his daughters, Susan, Eliza, Caroline and Harriett. It was designed as a Philadelphia style row house containing three separate units, with Elijah Embree as general contractor and John Smith, subcontractor. The porches were added in the 1880s.Three of the daughters became Mrs. Watkins, Mrs. Aikens, and Mrs. Ross (later Mrs. Wall) and, after their marriages, eventually established their own homes.
Their brother, Alfred E. Jackson, was among Jonesborough's prominent businessmen who took out stock in the ETN & VA Railroad in the 1840s.
The family is said to be related to Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and during the Civil War Alfred Jackson was called "Mudwall Jackson" by the Union soldiers as a sign of grudging admiration for his perseverance. At the time of his death in 1888, Alfred E. Jackson was the oldest living resident in Jonesborough and the oldest living Confederate General.
Old postcard showing Sister's Row.
If you have any additional information about this building or the families who occupied it, please contact Pat Sabin.
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