Walter Propst
Louisiana Agricultural Supply Company, Inc. deed to Walter W. Propst, Jr. Holly Grove dated 15 Aug 1969, Book 6-E, p. 131, Conveyance records. Propst paid $100,000 at auction. August 13, 1969.
Holly Grove in the 1970’s
Walter Propst is remembered by the Brian’s and the Darden’s as a schemer/dreamer off to Alaska in some wild project and who later abandoned the house allowing it to fall into ruin. Even while they still had their furniture and family portraits here the doors were open to whatever.
Percival Beacroft knew the financier for Holly Grove for the Propst and they asked him to check on the property and he found it abandoned. He also remembered the fried chicken business they opened in Centreville, only to fail.[1]
The Propsts, Jodie H. Propst and Walter W. Propst, Jr., of Rt. 1, Box 297, Centreville, incorporated Picnic Barn on 7 Feb 1978. It is listed as dissolved. This was apparently the chicken business.
Marvin Stuckey said he had it from a good source that Walter Propst owed someone in Wilkinson County $500, 000. He also heard people were waiting for Walter Propst when his children graduated from Centreville Academy. Propst was a no show.
In 1975 Mrs. Probst wrote a long article about Holly Grove for the Woodville Republican (March 14, 1975). She evidently was interested in the history of the house and of its people. She even noted she would like to move the abandoned graves of Duncan and James Stewart to Holly Grove. She noted that she and her husband bought the property in 1969.
The 1976 Centreville Academy Tiger yearbook tells another positive story. Mrs. Walter Propst is thanked for allowing her home to be used for the yearbook’s who’s who section and the front also was used for the inside front and back covers with the seniors on the gallery. Their three children were students at the Academy: Carlton was in the eleventh grade, Mark in the eighth, and Kristin in the sixth. Mrs. Propst is pictured in front of the mantle in what is apparently her front parlor (now the dinning room) with a puffy hair-do on top of her head. She is slightly chubby with a long-sleeve print blouse over slacks.
The house had a high hedge fronted by a lower hedge across the gallery up to the level of the gallery. The present porch lantern was there as were the concrete steps. The walkway only extended to the front steps and the lamp post was near the drive at the north east corner (it is no longer in place). No roof features can be discerned. There is a railing on the upper gallery but not on the lower. The Adirondack style chairs were on the upper gallery and rockers were on the lower gallery. The windows do not have screens and the blinds are nailed to the side of the window frames. A board ceiling on the first level runs perpendicular with the gallery. No blinds are seen on the north side.
I have a photo of Holly Grove (courtesy of Doug Lewis of Beech Grove in Amite County) from the 1960’s when the house was on a Pilgrimage with Jane Lewis and Molly Field sitting on the steps in long skirts. There is a smaller porch lantern. The doors and windows have screens and again the blinds are nailed to the side of the window frames. The Adirondack chairs are on the upper and lower levels. Eight can be counted. The hedges are present but are not as high and the rear one not as neatly clipped.
Inside less detail is visible but the house seems to be furnished nicely with late 19th century Victorian furniture. There are photos by the stair as it is today and probably by the upstairs stair railing. Their dinning room was in the present living room. There is a long wooden table with Chippendale style chairs. A silver candelabra with two candles and with a center probably removable knob to hold a third candle. A fancy porcelain vase sits on a crochet type doily in the center of the table. There appears to be a glass chandelier over the table. The wall is papered in a small print and over the mantle is a portrait of an older lady from an earlier time. There is a china cabinet with upper glass doors and lower drawers. A valence with wave edge is at the window. An egg and dart mirror is over a sideboard with a silver coffee pot visible and a candlestick. A beehive andiron is visible and a fender in front of the fireplace.
The present dinning room was a parlor for the Propst. There was a large harp there. A print of flowers in a Victorian frame hangs on a wall. A Victorian sofa with a grape design on the center section sits in front of an étagère. A fire fender is noted in front of the fireplace with a circular fire-screen to the side and a brass wood holder. A decorative two-light sconce is visible to one side over the mantle and a portrait of probably a child sitting on the floor is noted. A figurine is visible to one side of the mantle.
The present kitchen was a sitting room. A wing chair and a rolled arm sofa are visible. There is a small oriental rug in front of the fireplace. The wall is papered in a Victorian style paper with decorative stripes. There is small lyre backed work table and some small framed pictures or prints on the wall. A girondole is on the table. There is a fireplace fender, brass andirons and fire-tools.
In 1974 Walter W. Propst, Jr. had the property appraised. William R. Cobb gave a value of $126,000. He noted the tax assessment on 120.8 acres at $12 per acre at $1,330 and improvement assessment $4,000.
The appraiser, Cobb, made some interesting comments: The cost approach was not used because 1. The materials used in the original construction of the improvements could never be duplicated. 2. No prudent builder would build such a home even if the materials were available. The new architectural designs are such as to utilize all of the enclosed area to its maximum utility. The extra high ceilings, very large rooms, and the foyer in the front and rear add a great deal of cost but very little value. The improvements are 184 years old and functionally, they are very obsolete. The writers are of the opinion that if the pilgrimage was discontinued, the homes would lose a great deal of historical value and would start an accelerated rate of deterioration. Cobb further said, “The writer would like to point out that the market for the large, ante-bellum homes, such as the subject, is limited due to the excess amount of maintenance and utility bills. Only the most affluent people can maintain them in a comfortable and attractive manner.”
One of the comparables was the sale of Rosemont by the Henry Johnson Estate to Percival T. Beacroft, Jr. 8 Jan 1971 for $80,000, 272.03 acres; also The Briars of Natchez sold in 1970 for $70,000 17.7 acres; Longwood of Natchez (now a museum house) sold in 1968 for $75,000, 89.87 acres; The Burn of Natchez, 1964, 1.8 acres, $90,000; he also notes that Louisiana Agricultural Supply Co. Inc. sold to Walter W. Propst, Jr. Holly Grove on 13 August 1969 for $100,000.00, 110.80 acres. This was the purchase of the subject property at a public auction.
The property consisted of the main house of over 9,000 sq. ft. under roof and nine auxiliary buildings containing 12,329 sq. ft. 110.8 acres cleared and fenced. It was noted that Propst had made several repairs such as increasing the size of the central air conditioning system.
The Propst abandoned the house at some point. Carlton Hughes sold the property in 1988 to Marvin Stuckey via Marshall Trependahl Realty, Woodville. Carlton Hughes was the father of Jodie Propst. How he got title is not yet clear. He may have originally financed the property for his son in law.
Carlton Hughes was a lawyer in Plano, TX in 2012, BA Baylor, 1974, JD, 1982. This person could be related, son, grandson of Carlton Hughes, the father of Jodie Propst. It also appears that Walter Williams Propst, age 80 lives in Plano, TX. He is also listed as having lived in Las Vegas, Dallas and Addison, TX. 80 would be an appropriate age for Walter Propst of Holly Grove at this time.
Communication with minerals dealer 2013 noted that Carlton Hughes was dead as well as Mary Jo Propst. She had a sister Patricia.
On 29 Jan 2019 Carlton Probst came to visit with many large keys he said belonged to the house which he gave to us. This was his first visit in 40 years. He is a car salesman in Knoxville TN. Google notes his name as Carlton Reid Probst (b. 1 31-59), Louisville, TN. Children Sharon and Brandon, both live Knoxville. Carlton came with his fiancé who is a house cleaner, dog sitter, etc. He noted his brother Mark lived in Jackson MS. Google notes Mark D. Probst, age 54, lives in Brandon MS. A wife, maybe, Deborah S. Probst also lives in Jackson/Brandon. A sister, I think, Kristin A. Probst lives in Jackson/Brandon. Carlton noted his sister Kimberly lives in Woodville. Her husband Tom Spillman died and she is now married to Tom 2, Tom Felter.
Carlton noted his father was rarely here during their time. Always money problems. He died alone in Las Vegas. He may have taken some of the property out of the house to sell after Jody left. “We” took mother out of the house. She could no longer live here. The rear sw corner was open to air and taking in rain. The roof of the annex was falling. She died in 1998.
Carlton shared several memories. His room was the north anteroom and a sister lived in the north up bedroom. He called the south down bedroom as Mr. Dudley’s as he knew he was obese and did not do stairs. He was in the fourth grade when he came here. Rode a motorcycle as a teen. Bucky Darden took him hunting squirrels when he first came here.
He remembered the slave cemetery. Said some stones and several depressions. Said Henry cut the timber and plowed the area. (We have been there and there are some newer stones in a field.) He remembered the plantation bell, the patio, a well house with an attached wood shed. Captain’s House was where the potager now is. The rose garden they kept up for awhile was in front of the chicken house. He remembered the riding ring. Also said some other tenant houses to the south. One old man worked for them that had been born on the place. They are the ones who cemented the hole in the ginko. The lower farm road was there and some sort of fence. The ponds were as they are now. Though he knew that the dam had broken before Stuckey.
The stairs to the attic went off the upper back gallery next to the bathroom back of his room on the north side. The space under the main stairs was a closet. He remembered the stairs in the annex in a different location and the cooler for the rose blooms. He remembered a bed in the up south bedroom as located and being like ours and it came with the house. He thinks his father sold it. He thought it was a Mallard.
Carlton Hughes
1. Patricia Hughes
2. Mary Jo ‘Jody’ Hughes m. Walter Williams Probst, Jr.
b. c. 1930’s b. c. 1930’s
d. c. 1998 d. alone in Las Vegas
Children:
1. Carlton Reid Probst m.
b. 31 Jan 1959
Children:
1. Sharon
Probst
2. Brandon
Probst
2. Mark P. Probst
b. c. 1965
3. Kimberley P. Probst (twin) m. 1. Tom Spillman
2. Tom Felter
4. Kristin A. Probst (twin)
