The house was named for Harold and Marie Humphreys who were close friends of the Chambliss family for many years.  Harold Humphreys played an important role in the acquisition of the small farms and odd pieces of land that were purchased by John Chambliss (founder of the riding) and transformed into Reflection Riding during the 1940's and 50's.  Harold was one of the original incorporators of Reflection Riding in 1956 and served as President of the Board for seventeen years until his death.  Marie worked with Margaret Chambliss

Breeze Way

planting wildflowers and served as the unpaid general manager and consultant to Susan Chambliss Irvine (daughter of the Chamblisses) for many years after Mr. Chambliss's death in 1972.

For years before they built the house, Marie hunted for old cabin logs and other structural pieces. First she acquired the old David Hamill house on Hooker Road in Chattanooga, which had been built in 1846 and served as a field hospital during the war. The Hamills operated a ferry across the Tennessee River where the Walnut Street Bridge now stands. Marie's next acquisition was the old Fuller house located on the Birmingham highway (built well over 150 years ago by George Tittle), near the old Chief Wauhatchie house.

In Marion County, Tennessee Marie found a mantle and a lovely old front door, complete with the original transom windows above and on either side.  The style of this six-panel door was called "Cross and the Open Bible" by our forefathers. The top part of the door makes the cross and the bottom does look like an open Bible. Then on Missionary Ridge, she happened along when an old Victorian home (originally build by a Reverend Long, a Methodist circuit rider) was being torn down and bought 80

Meeting Room

pairs of inside shutters that day.

When she was ready to put the house together, she measured the logs and got out graph paper and drew off the house plan to match the materials she already had; thus the edifice took its shape, and to it were added other antique features. 

Although Marie served as her own architect and contractor for most of the project, she secured the assistance of A.J. Bradley of Cherokee, North Carolina to reconstruct the log work.  Mr. Bradley had learned the trade from his grandfather and erected the pieces and stonework according to Marie's design.  Some of the lovely old stones used for the foundation and front steps were from the Hamill and Fuller houses, while Marie purchased some when the West Side neighborhood was being torn down.

Upstairs, inside the house is a banister that also has an interesting story. One day Marie was at Gilman's (a popular paint store in downtown Chattanooga) buying paint and walked over to the Northern Hotel, which was rapidly being torn down. She noticed that the stair railing had handmade balustrades, so she bought

Kitchen

enough for the stairs of the house as well as the balcony that overlooks the living room. She recalls climbing to the fourth floor, spying the balcony, and racing home to get the carpenter so that he could see the discovery, which now encloses a small area above the pine mantle. Another balcony, located above the kitchen was salvaged from the Wilcox home on Eighth Street and displays an intricate design.

Some wonderful heart pine used in the house, Marie bought as old rafters when they were making way for the Pioneer Bank Building (now AmSouth Bank in downtown Chattanooga). Inside the house, the walls are of country pine wiped with paint and then sealed, giving a soft, slightly green effect.

A monument to the ingenuity of its designer (Marie) is the dining room chandelier. It is composed of brass found in the back of an antique shop, three matching oil lamps, Czechoslovakian prisms, a top globe from the Northern Hotel, and invisible wiring.

Reading Nook

Marie admitted that it was a day-by-day job as she met problems, grasped a feeling of what the exterior would allow, and fell upon objects to grace the interior.

The second chapter of the story is the guesthouse, which was added a few years later onto the breezeway.  There is a fireplace of old brick with a hook for an iron kettle, a small convenient kitchen, a banister rail up the stars painted red that came out of an old house in town.

In 1994-1995 Reflection Riding acquired the life estate of the Harold Humphreys family.  This includes the main house on the property and some surrounding acreage.