WOODBURY — Retired banker Bill Smith admits it. He has long been fascinated with the two-story frame home at the intersection of West Main Street (John Bragg Highway) and Auburntown Road.

"Bill's oldest granddaughter, Lindsay Smith, used to say 'there's the house granddaddy wants to buy' as they rode past the house," said Christine Dillon, who reopened Smith Funeral Home with Bill Smith and his son, Mike, five years ago.

Lindsay Smith was 2 or 3 years old at the time. She is now in her early 20s.

"He's been talking about it for at least 20 years," said Dillon.

Bill Smith purchased the home earlier this year and began clearing the land and renovating the house.

The Brevard house was built in 1900 by W. F. Brevard, Bill Smith's grandfather, and Linda Brevard Smith (Bill's mother) lived there in what was known as Edgefield just outside of Woodbury.

W. F. Brevard ran a roller mill, which made flour and mill for 25 years. He was a U.S. revenue officer, president of the Cannon County Banking Co. and farmed livestock.

"I knew my grandfather real well. I was at least 25 years old when he died (at 94)," said Bill Smith. "My mother lived (in the home) from age 12 until she married at age 20."

W. F. Brevard sold the two-story house, bought 500 acres on Doolittle Street and a house in town when he got involved in banking.

The house was later owned by Ernest and Lewis Brevard, brother of W.F. Brevard. Horace Fugitt became the owner of the home, and Dr. T. J. Bratten and his family lived in the house for a short time, according to Bill Smith.

Bill Smith's earliest memories of the Brevard House were when he was 10 years old, in 1928. E. L. (Vanderbilt) Macon bought the house and lived there until his death. Vanderbilt Macon was the brother of Uncle Dave Macon of Grand Ole Opry fame.

"I went over there as a young school boy (at Woodbury Grammar School)," he said. "Annie (Mrs. E. L.) Macon was friends with my mother."

Annie Macon was the wife of Vanderbilt Macon, a mule trader and land dealer, who was in real estate development.

"When Mr. Macon was living there, he had a big water tank at the barn that was supplied (from) the roof of the barn," said Bill Smith.

Water ran from a gutter into a long metal trough for mules to drink from.

"Uncle Dave Macon came and visited his brother," said Bill Smith. "One time (my father, mother and sister and I) were sitting on our front porch and heard (Dave Macon) singing at Edgefield, about a quarter mile away. My brother and I went over to Vanderbilt Macon's house and listened to (Dave Macon) sing. He was hollering and carrying on."

Bill Smith lived from birth until he married at age 23 at the family's farm house on Murfreesboro Road. The house was remodeled to be used as the new home for Smith Funeral Home when it opened in 2000.

But Bill Smith was drawn to the Brevard House.

"The location and all the surroundings of the house always fascinated me," said Bill Smith.

There is a graveyard in back where Lt. Col. John B. Hutchison was buried in 1863. The Confederate soldier was killed at a spot just west of the house.

"He stayed buried there for two years, then the family moved the body to Springfield, from whence he came." said Bill Smith.

In 1850, the local historian continued, a big flood came through Cannon County and washed two men who operated a tanning yard near the Stones River from their office two miles downstream. These men are buried in the cemetery behind the Brevard House.

Smith is also fascinated by the ornate woodwork inside the home.

"The interior work is very unusual, and it is very sound structurally," the 87-year old said. "When you go in the front door (still original to the house) and look to your left, you see a set of double sliding doors. I remember them being used when special company was there. They would close off that section to have privacy."

Smith admires the woodwork just inside the front door and the wide staircase leading upstairs. He added the well-built house included closets, which were unusual for a house its age. Porches are outside both floors along the front of the house.

"We are going to have a red runner on the staircase," he said. "When the Macons lived there, they had house hands that did the cooking from a wood stove. We are putting a wood stove beyond imagination in the house alongside an electric stove."

When Annie Macon died, the ownership of the Brevard Hose passed to her niece, Kate Wharton. In her will, Wharton stated if none of the nieces or nephews wanted the house, to allow Bill Smith the opportunity to buy the house without it going up for auction.

Wharton died in 2002 at the age of 98, and Bill Smith received the title to the property on May 31, 2005. Smith line up crews to get busy on the house.

He had the back porch torn off and replaced it with a two- bedroom addition. The existing rooms of the house have been given fresh coats of paint, new wallpaper and light fixtures.

"Every room of the house had a fireplace which could be heated by wood and later had grates installed to use coal," said Bill Smith. "One bedroom upstairs, the kitchen and new downstairs area has central heat and air conditioning. Each (of the other rooms) is now wired for 220 electric heat."

Smith may hook up gas logs in those rooms.

The wood floors have been sanded and were being refinished late last week.

David and Donnie Odom of Odom's Construction added the new rooms on the back of the house, rewired the house, put in new plumbing, and painted the exterior of the wood frame house. David Odom stopped putting in a dead bolt in one of the exterior doors to give a quick tour.

"The kitchen had an old metal sink in it and a wood burning stove with no cabinets, just shelves, " David Odom said.

Michael "Cricket" Bryson was scraping the old paint off the steps leading upstairs.

"Bill's going to put red runners on the steps. We're trying to get old paint off to make the floor natural," Bryson said. "We've been working nearly three months, off and on (on the house)."

Terry Bryson of Readyville said they did the wallpapering and inside painting.

Bill Smith, an office-holder in the Cannon County Historical Society, is supplying office space to the organization in the east room at the end of the front porch of the Brevard House.

Bill Smith admits he could have gone other places besides Cannon County in banking.

"But I wanted to stay in Woodbury (because of) love for my fellow man that I grew up with," he said. "I had no desire to go to the big city."