Master Builder and Preservationist Braxton Dixon continues to use his architectural gifts to bring a 200 year-old Vermont dairy barn to Sumner County. His re-invention will be a post and beam private residence located on a tree-surrounded hillside next to a happy creek.
We spent a good time one morning recently with Mr. Dixon, (also the builder of Thistletop) his beautiful wife Maryanna, and Debby Church, trading stories over hot breakfast at Cracker Barrel and marvelling at how much information is attatched to each historical artifact from the Dixon collection. The only item not permanent to the house was an amazing wooden panel from a Mississippi Riverboat. It was on display hanging from the rafters...along with a pinch of dust from another time.
(You may click on a photo to make it larger)
Braxton and Maryanna are a treasure. Their partnership shares a focus and reverence for the found pieces and their relevance to the new construct.
Maryanna's gifted singing voice is resonant in the crisp Tennessee morning. Sometimes pausing to describe a point, one thinks she might just break into a song by Jerome Kern or Cole Porter. We wish she would.
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