By Rupert Howell
and John Howell Sr.

With smoke still rising midmorning from the wasted structure that was the local equivalent to a post Civil War museum, Panola County Investigator Gerald White could only shake his head and speculate.

The house known as the “Carpenter House” and home to Emily Grace, who now resides in a nearby nursing home, had gone up in flames in the wee hours Saturday.

White indicated his investigation was routine and noted that fire may have started in the front north side of the older portion of the wooden structure. He noted the absence of burned sticks (former boards) in that part of the house indicated the heat had been hotter there for a longer period than other portions of the ruins.

A caretaker told a deputy that squirrels had been into the home vacated by the owner for over a year now and that could have led to electrical problems, especially with the older wire, White explained. But that was only conjecture as White and the State Fire Investigator were in White’s office Monday morning scratching their heads and looking at pictures of the weekend fire.

The fire was called in shortly after 3 a.m. and Courtland Fire Chief Michael Purdy said Monday that the structure was on the ground when trucks arrived shortly after.

He said approximately 20 firefighters from his department, Pope, Bynum and Curtis fought blazes and cooled embers until around 6:30 a.m. returning that night to extinguish hot spots with limited results.

Grace’s grandfather, John A. Carpenter, built the house in 1869 and 1870, after his return from the Civil War.

He was a carpenter both in name and vocation, building  the home from hand-planed cypress and poplar.

He also built the first pulpit and pews for Shiloh Methodist Church.

The home’s porch was in 1924 the setting for a widely circulated photo of 11 Confederate veterans who had joined Carpenter to celebrate his 90th birthday.