This house was built in 1912 as a model house for the sale of pre-cut houses to be sold by the One Price Cash Store in DeFuniak Springs. The house has triple hardwood floors and double wooden walls that give it extra strength and durability. (1)
The original owner, A. Fletcher Tatom, was a retired lumber man who, with his wife and daughter, moved to DeFuniak Springs from Geneva, Alabama. Capt. Tatom enjoyed the experiment of a pre-cut house yet insisted on the use of quality lumber in its construction. His daughter, Mamie Ruth Tatom, married Malcolm A. Morrison, and they had two daughters, Marjorie and Mary.(2)
The original address of the house was 315 W. Circle Drive. [Addresses were changed in the late 1990s.] Capt. Tatom (a boat captain based in Freeport) was part owner of the One Price Cash Store and paid $850 for the house and lot in 1913 or 1914. The house was given to Tatom’s daughter, Mamie R. Morrison, in 1926. F. A. Schack purchased it in 1937, and John and Victoria Apostle purchased it in 1940. The house was then known as Apostle House. The Apostles owned the “5 & 10” cent store in town [the precursor of today’s dollar stores]. Tom Fountain purchased the house in 1969, and L. Paul and Virginia M. Cate bought it in 1983.
[Photo by Mary Lancaster. Sources: (1) Walking Tour brochure by the Walton County Heritage Association. (2) Letter to Sonny Laird from Marjorie Morrison Moylan, September 25, 1999. (3) Historic Building Survey completed by Paul and Virginia Cate.]
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