Credit: Our Southern Living magazine
300 West 6th St., Columbia
Built 1816. 2 story cedar log home
Elizabeth " Lizzie" Porter Woodfolk Watson (1861-1965) married William Woodfolk of Nashville in 1883, and they moved into her farmily's home. The Woodfolk family had been wealthy landowners in Jackson Co., TN. Lizzie's parents were Wiliam T. and Mary Pillow Porter of Columbia. Mary P. was only 26 when her husband died, and she never remarried - living to 90 years old. Lizzie's aunt Mary wed Samuel F. Mayes, and they built Mayes Manor nearby in 1858. He was a South Carolina merchant. Lizzie's grandfather Abner Pillow and his brother William bought the first lots in Columbia in 1808 and owned a large plantation near Old Mt. Hope Church.
Lizzie was age 22; William was age 48. Because of financial troubles, the married failed 7 years later in 1890.
Seven years later, in 1897, she remarried to William Henry Watson (1845-1913) who was age 52. He was a widower: 1st wife Ellen Journey Watson. He owned a livery stable and was probably a friend of her father. They lived at the Porter House until 1900. Watson lived with his daughter the last 3 years of his life.
Credit: Our Southern Living
n 1965, when Lizzie died, she was considered Maury County's oldest citizen. There were stories of neighbors waving to Lizzie on her porch fronting North High St. with chickens walking arond her. The Porter House was demolished, the lot was divided in 2, and two homes constructed. [The home closest to the corner was a Decorator's Showhouse recently, and is where my in-laws, Ken and Marlene Rakow reside. We had always wondered about some random concrete steps in their yard to the road, and once I found pictures of Lizzie's house, the steps are part of her front yard - mystery solved!] See Mayes Manor
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