The Parish Carriage House

The plaque credits the carriage house plans to George F. Barber's catalogue; the catalogue was a national business. Barber started in his brother's building firm in DeKalb, Illinois, where he published Cottage Souvenir, then moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1888 for his health. There his firm offered about 800 designs and sold roughly 20,000 sets of plans over some twenty years, reaching clients in Japan, China and the Philippines, with thirty draftsmen and twenty secretaries handling the mail. The mail-order trade ended in 1908; after his death the practice became Barber and McMurry.

What the plaque says

The Parish Carriage House In 1892 wealthy merchant, cotton buyer, and banker L. H. Parish (1846-1924) and his wife Mattie bought this property. Soon they erected this carriage house with ornate Victorian styling to match their home. Plans for both structures came from the mail order catalogue of noted architect George Franklin Barber (1854-1915). The first floor was designed to house the bay horses, elegant carriages and also a tack and feed room. The driver's living quarters were on the second floor. Incise in base: Sponsored by Walker R. Gray, Jr. (1980)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Calvert — 0.4 mi
  A railroad cotton town of 1868 on State Highway 6 that claimed the largest cotton gin in the world and elected Black men to county and state office during Reconstruction.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 20 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.

More markers nearby

• Virginia Field Park — steps away
• First Baptist Church of Calvert — steps away
• Sneed Memorial Methodist Church — 0.2 mi
• Town of Calvert — 0.4 mi