New home will be on this year’s Pilgrimage

Anastasia Harbuck
The Eufaula Tribune
Published: April 2, 2008

Tara and Robert Bennett III are sure to save a great deal on their electricity bill in the months to come.

The natural lighting from the gracious windows in their home allows in enough light to make a visitor think someone left the lights on. In fact, it was the home’s spectacular windows and natural lighting that attracted Tara Bennett and her family to the Sparks-Bennett home on Cherry Street and Eufaula Avenue.

“Sometimes when I step into a room, I think I’ve left the lights on,” says Bennett. “That’s what drew us to the home- all the natural lighting.”

The home was built in 1909 by C.G. Mercer, the then mayor of Eufaula, in the classical revival style, according to “Historic Eufaula: A Treasure of Southern Architecture 1827-1910” by the Eufaula Heritage Association. The Sparks family acquired the home in the early 1940s. The Bennetts purchased the house in 2005 and began renovations in the fall of that year.

The home features beautiful Corinthian columns and tall gracious windows that allows light to pour into every room.

Bennett is particularly proud of the house’s pocket doors that have not been in use for several years.

“I don’t think these doors have seen the sun since the 1940s,” she says.

Bennett and her family, meanwhile, have been hard at work remodeling the grand old house, re-plastering the walls, replacing all the house’s lighting and updating the home with modern conveniences.

Bennett, an avid antique collector, takes pride in the home’s new chandeliers, which her family has installed. One particular chandelier dates from mid-19th century France and was brought to Eufaula from the Bennett family’s home in Mobile.

The Bennetts have also renovated the kitchen with antique French cabinetry. Some of Bennett’s favorite antiques she hopes to show off during Pilgrimage are three antique baby beds and some antique children’s clothing.

One lovely little brass bed is a French antique with a pale blue veil and ruffled bedding Bennett had made especially for the antique.

Though French in origin, the bed was acquired from Uruguay and purchased by Bennett in Atlanta.