Historic Adams-French Mansion to have new owners
Owner Dwight Stevens will sell all furnishings, art and antiques at a one day auction
ABERDEEN, MISS. (WCBI) – One of the most iconic and historic homes in the area will soon change owners. The ” Adams – French” mansion in Aberdeen has been sold by longtime owner, Dwight Stevens.
Dwight Stevens recently sold the property where his auction company was headquartered, to the city of Aberdeen.
And now, he has sold his home, the iconic Adams French Mansion.
” It’s just a great house, it’s a little much for one person,” Stevens said.
The antebellum home has 7,000 square feet, with five bedrooms and five bathrooms. Stevens bought the house 20 years ago and has held many events there. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1856, survived the Civil War, and even a fire in 2006. Stevens had a decision to make after the fire.
” Whether to restore it, or to just have it torn down, but there was too much of it here, too many memories, and I thought it was too important to Aberdeen, and to Mississippi to lose another house of this magnitude, so I chose to bite the bullet,” he said.
It took two years to repair and renovate the house, but Stevens says it was worth the effort. He has also led efforts to save other historic buildings and houses in Aberdeen.
” People all the time they might find a picture of a house, and say, where was this house, and it was torn down, the reason, they wanted to make way for something , the roof got bad and they decided rather than spend money on it to tear it down, we’ve lost so many houses, it was one of the reasons I wanted to start a campaign to try and save the houses, we started Save Aberdeen Landmarks, and we’ve been trying to do that,” Stevens said.
Stevens won’t be leaving Aberdeen, he has purchased a house on the waterway, and his auction business will move to downtown. Also, Stevens company will auction all of the furnishings, works of art, books, china, crystal, rugs and other antiques from the mansion.
Family, friends and employees of Stevens, along with local elected officials will honor Stevens with a Dwight Stevens Day, Thursday at Acker Park, a park he is helping to revitalize. Also, the new owners of Adams French Mansion will be here for the festivities.
The celebration honoring Dwight Stevens begins with a New Orleans style Second Line parade from Commerce, down Meridian to Acker Park. There will be a program, music and food.
