Simeon “Sim” Jarvis and Betty Belle Smith Jarvis had big plans. They married in 1871, and soon after that, things began rolling. They opened a general store in the small Davie County, NC community of Farmington, following which they built this house, sturdy enough and large enough to shelter a family, and right by the store, for convenience sake. Things went well, and by 1890, they were also operating a tobacco factory.
Though Sim Jarvis lived until 1904, his wife, Betty, passed away in 1891. The property was inherited by their daughter and son-in-law, Mentora and Lonnie Horne. Lonnie had already become a partner in the business, and for the next 40 years or so, he and Mentora ran things.
Though it has not survived, there once was a full-length front porch on this simple farmhouse. Porches in the South in those days were as much a necessity as they were a luxury. They provided natural light, shelter from the sun and the elements, and enough space for things such as iceboxes and work tables. Stringing a bushel of beans, for instance, was a much more pleasant task when one could sit and watch the comings and goings of friends and neighbors. And front porches, especially, also served as “the front room”. Visitors were received and entertained on the porch, invited to sit a spell, offered a glass of sweet tea or a slice of pie.
Those days are gone, as is the porch on the Jarvis house. No one has lived here for decades, though there are newer residences adjacent to the property, and ones who obviously still care.
I happened by on a recent morning. It was one of those days near the very end of winter when the green grass signals hope long before the trees wake up. Maybe it was a sign. Maybe someday soon, the house that Sim and Betty Jarvis built will find a savior, and a new front porch.
So sad and such a shame. They did well but their inheritors didn’t care