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PRESS RELEASES December 20, 2002
The Associated Press The Priestley House in Canton, with its resident ghost, a secret trap door and a root cellar once used to hide Confederate soldiers, will have its story told to a national television audience this weekend. The 150-year-old home, bought by Frankie McMillin and her family about five years ago, will be featured Sunday on Home and Garden Television's If Walls Could Talk. McMillin lives at the home with her husband, Roger, a judge on the state Court of Appeals, and 8-year-old daughter Madison. Frankie McMillin opens the home to visitors for tours and other special occasions like weddings or receptions. Frankie McMillin said her family was familiar with older homes after living in a 100-year-old house owned by her family in New Albany. All homes have a story to tell, but the older ones just seem to have more character, she said. "We didn't know much about the home before we came here, but people have told us a lot of stories," Frankie McMillin said. "And we're still finding out stuff." HGTV Co-executive Producer Tom Giesen said the network looks for families who are not only living in the home but learning about its history as they go. "The key to our show is people discovering history of the home that they didn't know when they bought it," Giesen said. "They might discover it through things they find and stories neighbors or former family members tell. It's kind of the homeowner's journey of discovery." Giesen said the South is always full of rich stories. Built in 1852 for the Dr. James Priestley family, the home was one of the first built in Canton. It stands in one of the city's oldest neighborhoods, within walking distance of the historic courthouse square. Priestley was a pioneer settler. He became the town's doctor and postmaster. The house was built of hand-hewn cypress and heart pine. It was originally built one room deep and two stories tall with a large center hall and a hand-turned walnut staircase leading up to the two bedrooms and a portico. Later, the Priestley family added a dining hall and double parlors as well as an outside kitchen before enclosing the rear porches and adding three bedrooms and a two-story brick porch. Stories abound inside the house that served as the city's brick factory, and Frankie McMillin said she loves telling visitors about its history and lore. Frankie McMillin said Priestley is rumored to have hidden Confederate soldiers from the Union during the Civil War, most likely his own sons who fought for the South. "The house itself survived the Civil War, which as we know, in Mississippi, not a lot did," Frankie McMillin said. "There's a trap door in the dining-room floor where the soldiers went into the root cellar under the house." Priestley died of yellow fever, according to family accounts, but the home remained in the Priestley family until Nina McCaslin bought it at an auction in the early 1990s. The McMillins then purchased the home from McAslin. "We've met lots of interesting people who visit the house; and our neighbors have told us lots of stories," Frankie McMillin said. One of the most intriguing aspects of the house is its ghost, something Frankie McMillin always grins about. "Everyone always wants to know about the ghost," she said. She said rumor has it that it's the ghost of Dr. Priestley's wife, Susan Nelson Priestley, and can be seen in one of the bedroom windows when driving by the home at night. Frankie McMillin and her family have had a few run-ins with the ghostly tenant, and she describes it as a friendly spirit. "Oh yeah, you can hear her all the time slamming doors ... She even played the piano one night," Frankie McMillin said. "I was skeptical when we first came, but then you hear her, and I decided it really wasn't so stupid." The ghost of Mrs. Priestley is supposed to inhabit one of the upstairs bedrooms that Frankie McMillin's daughter Sally, now in college, once slept in. Frankie McMillin said the family has become attached to the Priestley House even in their short time living in Canton. "We're all going to spend Christmas here, so it should be a fun time," she said. # # #
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