The Wood-Hughes House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. Now, some houses just sit there. Four walls, a roof, call it a day.

But the house that W. A. Wood built in 1897 in Washington County, that one had something to say.

Wood was a lumber yard owner, born in 1851, and when it came time to build a home for himself and his wife Fannie, who was a Wheeler before she married him, the man did not reach for ordinary. He reached for oak. He reached for heart pine.

He reached for Louisiana cypress. And then, if that wasn't enough, he had the siding milled, custom-milled, to simulate cut stone. The man sold lumber for a living, and he still went above and beyond with the stuff.

The result was what historians would come to call an excellent example of late Victorian residential architecture. Which is a formal way of saying: people slowed down when they passed that house. In 1913, the home was sold to Henry W.

Hughes, a planter and rancher, born in 1865, and his wife Bess, who was a Thornhill. The Hughes family, they didn't just pass through. They held onto that house for fifty-eight years, finally selling in 1971 to Kenneth E.

Rich and his wife Fonda, who was a Clark. And the Riches, they gave the place a name. They call it Clarich.

Wood built it to last, and it appears the house has been taking that instruction seriously ever since.

What the marker says

W. A. Wood (1851-1909) and his wife Fannie (Wheeler) built this house in 1897. A lumber yard owner, Wood used fine materials--oak, heart pine, Louisiana cypress--and had siding milled to simulate cut stone. This is an excellent example of late Victorian residential architecture. Home was sold 1913 to planter-rancher Henry W. Hughes (1865-1935) and wife Bess (Thornhill), whose family owned it 58 years, selling in 1971 to Kenneth E. and Fonda (Clark) Rich, who call it "Clarich."