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A Pryor Commitment

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A Pryor Commitment

The restoration of the historic 1836 Pryor House in Athens, Alabama by owners Greg and Reene Hodges.

This page details the house's history, changes made to the house over time, the process of the restoration and the struggles and joy of an old house.

10/04/2021

The Pryor House lost her crew chief last week. On September 23rd, I posted on the stairs in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. I didn’t know on September 26th we would lose our Pop, the man behind that demo in a fatal car accident. He was 86 and he could out work, out think, and out plan all of us. We will never be able to fill those coveralls or forget all the work he put in. Bill Hodges, we can never thank you enough.

09/24/2021

Taking down the floating staircase at the Apperson House in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. All the credit goes to Pop and Avery Branner. Without Pop’s woodworking knowledge and Avery’s height they would have never made it to the truck. Dreaming of it being in the Pryor House someday…

09/22/2021

Heart pine flooring removal from the 1847 Apperson House in Mount Sterling, Ky. Buy an Airlocker nail remover on

09/20/2021

Honestly, we had NO idea what we were getting into. Taking apart an 1847 house? HA! We never had dismantled a home THAT old in it’s original state. Talk about a learning curve. We were told to bring a sawsaw, some crowbars and a reverse nailer (I have whole post about the amazing pneumatic Air Locker reverse nailer coming later). Harbor Freight, you became our new besties with those Pittsburgh tools!
What worked best at the Kentucky house was TEAMWORK. Our friend Tom Branner, our sons Blake and Reece and the two of us came on our 1st of 4 demo trips. Tom worked with Greg and the guys worked together. I had the best partner though. Millie was my shadow that whole trip. She and I took all the trim out of the attic. She was a huge help between naps. We lost Millie to cancer a month later. In the following trips, Tom’s son, Avery Branner and Reece’s friend, Jared Teston came to help and were amazing. Even our Pop came and worked a day when we took down the main staircase. Blessed by these good good friends and family

09/17/2021

Greg Hodges. This was all his idea. Yeah, I’m pointing fingers. Tells me he’s looking for hunting land, then says, “Hey, look at this house…” 😏 I kept saying , “This was not the life plan…” 🙄
There have been days I’ve hated the Pryor House, so much that I refused to cross the threshold... that went on for about 6 months in late 2019. 😡
Then there was Mount Sterling, Kentucky and The Apperson House. She changed everything for me. Her demo set on August 1st, 2021. Her fate was sealed. The Apperson House bequeathed the Pryor House her period correct woodwork. 😇Just took us getting dirty again. 😑
The Pryor House has it’s own Superman and I get to be Lois Lane. Thank you Greg for dragging me into this kickin’, spittin’ and fussin’ the whole way. I’ll say it…you were right…it’s just the project we needed.

09/15/2021

This quote is from the current issue of Garden & Gun. So true how much I love crust and rust, wear and tear, worn and torn, layers upon layers of paint talking to me about the history of a house. The patina of Mount Sterling, Kentucky’s Apperson House will live on inside the Pryor House hopefully another 200 years

Garden & Gun Magazine

08/15/2021

This post is honoring our “organ donor” house. What happens when you have no interior woodwork in your own historic home? You become blessed with a house that is being demolished and has period correct moldings. Here are a few pics of us reclaiming from the Apperson House in Mount Sterling, Kentucky what will some day go inside the Pryor House. 5 weeks of work, a few good friends along with our boys help and now we have baseboard, mantles, window trim, and a staircase! Some day…someday…
Promise I will have another post that will thank all those who labored to help us with this huge under taking.

07/25/2021

This where I question my sanity

07/17/2021

I was going to say something really corny for this post like “We are really diggin’ working on the Pryor House”. In all honesty this is the COOLEST thing I’ve done since we have owned it. We had some workers digging around the house a couple of weeks ago and they hit an old trash pit. Garbage service did not exist in the 1800s, so dangerous garbage like glass, china, or metal items were buried so bare feet would be safe. In this case, garbage was stashed under an old set of wooden steps. Since the steps were attached to a kitchen area, we found chicken & rib bones.The steps are long gone but the garbage remains. Finding these items gives us a glimpse into what the previous owners lives were like 150 years ago. Thank you Vicki Hannah White for getting dirty with me!

07/14/2021

The Volume 43, Number 4, July 2021 edition of the Limestone Legacy is out! The publication is printed by the Limestone County Historical Society. There is an article about the history of the Pryor House by Lakin Boyd. If you you are a resident of Limestone County or have an interest in the history of the area, join today at www.limestonecountyhistoricalsociety.org

07/11/2021

Love at 1st sight…The architectural details that made us fall in love with The Pryor House 😍❤️🥰

07/10/2021

Digging around at the house today we found this 1860s champagne/wine bottle. I learned about the deep “punt”, the indent in the bottom of the bottle.

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Mount Sterling, KY
40353

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