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Dorothy Copus Brush More on our Earlier this year a picture appeared in the
Chronicle with the headline "Crossville's Lady of
Fame." The picture was of Ruby Wyatt Davis standing by a
large framed painting of a log home. In her hands, Mrs. Davis
held a picture of a lovely young woman, Jane Wyatt. This was
her half sister remembered as the lady of fame because of her
many years in New York City as a Ziegfeld Follies Girl. Mrs.
Davis was pleased to share her memories of Jane with me. Jane L. Wyatt was born on a bitter cold Dec.
8, 1891, as her mother lay on a pallet in front of the blazing
fireplace in her Aunt Beckey Brewer's home. Her father, John
Q. Wyatt, and her mother had divorced before her birth. She grew
up in the home of her grandfather, George Webb. This was the
home her great-grandfather, James Monroes Webb, had built at
Stevens Gap. During those early days, she stored away lasting
memories of this place and the surrounding rural setting; but
in her teens, she left the Plateau. First, she went to Nashville
and then to Kentucky, where she met and married a wealthy young
man. Too late, she found he was also wed to alcohol, and she
divorced him. The financial settlement gave her independence,
and she retained an attorney to manage her affairs. Her next stop was New York City. Here, Florenz
Ziegfeld's Follies was the toast of Broadway and continued a
favorite for 24 years. Even today there is a revival of those
fabulous productions on the Broadway scene called simply Follies. When Jane arrived in the city, Ziegfeld's
Follies was billed as "Glorifying the American Girl,"
and this attractive brunette from Crossville fit the bill. The
dates of her life as a Follies girl are hazy, but she did keep
her apartment in New York until the 1940s. If she had papers about her life during those
days, they are gone. Mrs. Davis remembers the letters she received
from her as a child, but she didn't keep them. She was always
intrigued by the envelope stamped Grand Central Station. She
tells of some of Jane's recordings the family had and especially
remembers listening to the lovely voice singing Have You Ever
Been Lonely?. Those records are gone, too. Jane appeared in Ziegfeld's musical productions
of The Merry Widow and The Last Waltz. She did
some early radio, as well as writing for magazines. A world traveler,
Jane visited many countries but always said she liked China better
than any country she had seen. When she decided to return to the Plateau,
the original family home was gone, lost in a fire, but she bought
the land and arranged to have her new home built on the exact
site of the old homestead. Work began in 1933. A camp was set
up for the workers with bunks for sleeping and a large cooking
tent. Owen and Walter Hale and Cal McClarty were the head carpenters.
Logs were cut and logged to the site where they were peeled and
then rolled in a vat of boiling creosote. The two-story home
had 14 rooms and three and a half baths. Some of the original foundation stones were
used. Charlie Flynn and sons did the stone work, using stones
that came from near the bluff where the view of the whole Sequatchie
Valley is spectacular. Water from the same spring that had furnished
water for Jane's great-grandfather's house was pumped up to the
new house. In May, 1935 a brief item appeared in the
Chronicle. "Miss Jane Wyatt, who has been passing
the winter in New York City, has arrived at her handsome new
bungalow at Stevens Gap near the top of the mountain near Big
Lick. Last year, Miss Wyatt built a commodious log home at Stevens
Gap, which she will make her summer home in the future. She has
numerous relatives and friends who will be glad to welcome her
home." Mrs. Davis remembers that Jane often entertained
friends at dinner parties and the people cooking and serving
for these affairs spoke of the beautiful china and crystal used
for the table settings. In 1972, Jane sold her dream place to
an Atlanta firm and moved to City Lake Rd., where she died in
March 1985, at age 93. Crossville's Lady of Fame took her memories
of those golden days in New York with her and we are left with
only bits and pieces. The log house remains and looks out on
a peaceful mountain scene. Mrs. Davis drove me in her truck over a long, almost hidden, badly rutted lane to see the secluded, once-grand home, which is slowly deteriorating. It was apparent someone had discovered it, because there were several old vehicles in the yard, so we only looked and did not get out of the truck. For many years, a caretaker lived there, but she died not long ago, and now this historic residence is left to the ravages of time. |