Northcut Plantation - Wheeler Place, McMinnville Tennessee
The Northcutt Plantation House was built circa 1840. It is a well-preserved example of a type of architecture typical to many Tennessee ante-bellum country houses, and is built at 'a large scale. Its open air dog-trot between kitchen and smoke house, its brick paving, its one-room deep masonry construction, its vast entry hall with exterior doors at each end, and its courtyard make it well adapted to the hot summer climate. This late Federal house should also be noted for its well preserved brick slave quarters that form the southwest side of the original courtyard. The woodwork and doors on the interior of the house are beautifully grained and the original hardware is extant.
It was later the home of James Northcut (c. 1810-1866), Warren County planter, A. Northcut (1837 - ?), another planter and also Warren County School Director for three years, was raised here. Later it was the home of A.D. Wheeler and his son Nath Wheeler.
This two-story, one-room deep brick bearing masonry residence is rectangular in shape and has a central hall plan. It has a five bay facade and has a one-story dog-trot ell at the rear also of brick masonry construction. Its gable roof is supported by sawn timber truss and is covered with standing seam metal. The ridge is parallel to the facade.
The house features a double-room free-standing brick slave quarters a courtyard, and original graining on interior doors, as well as the original hardware. Its construction, materials, and plan are well suited to the long, hot, humid summers in this region. A turn of the century photograph reveals the only alterations - the replacement of the original shake roof and a two-story front portico with a two-story porch and milled woodwork.
