Cumberland Co. Pest House, A bit of forgotten history...
(Some info from Virginia W. Bowman and the Cumberland Co. Historical and Genealogical Society.)
The Pest House in 2003 (Photo by CCHGS)
What was done with people who were sick in the time before hospitals and doctors?
For an isolation ward, a small house was built on the poor farm property outside of Crossville in May of 1909. Patients with smallpox or other contagious diseases were taken there until they were no longer "catching." Someone from a patient's family came by daily to bring food, water, clean clothes, and medicine.
For an isolation ward, a small house was built on the poor farm property outside of Crossville in May of 1909. Patients with smallpox or other contagious diseases were taken there until they were no longer "catching." Someone from a patient's family came by daily to bring food, water, clean clothes, and medicine.
These items were passed through the door to the patient. This house was called "the pest house" and stood on a wooded lot near the corner of Dayton Ave and Wells Rd.
On May 19, 1909, a local news report said "a pest house has been erected on poor house property...Oliver Rector, son of O. B. Rector is the only patient. "
It was bad enough to be so sick and isolated, but to be designated as a resident of the pest house was putting it bluntly.
In those days, often a person's illness was written up in the newspaper. A complete report on symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment was made and a statement as to whether recovery was expected or if there was no hope of survival.
The Pest House on 5/29/19 (Photo by Jim Young)
The building originally had a vertical clapboard exterior and tin roof and stood for 100 years before a tree from the ice storm of 2015 fell across the structure destroying it.
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