A Piece of Carroll County's Past to Go to Auction

Snake Creek Farmhouse is unique in Carroll County and the surrounding area. The house does not know if it is Georgian style with Queen Anne details or another smattering of Victorian architecture. The experts, who have added this historic building to the National Register of Historic Places, cannot agree on its style. The house is one of only two buildings on the register, adding to its distinctiveness and personality. Built in 1910 by the Martin family, Jim and Barbara Poff restored the building to its present state. Jim Poff has put the historic home up for auction. 

Jim and Barbara Poff began restorative work on the Snake Creek Farm home; he referred to Barbara as the "decorator" because of her fascination, creativity, and commitment to the project.. The previous owner, Elizabeth Prince, had started reconstruction in the early 1990s to make it into a bed and breakfast, and he and Barbara picked up where she left off upon her death. Jim and Barbara were intent to make the restoration authentic. Jim Poff has experience in building houses, and the couple has restored and sold houses similar to Snake Creek before, such as the French Bolt house in Sylvatus. Poff fondly remembers that his wife scraped through the paint of Snake Creek's walls to find the original colors. "We've got it in pristine condition now," he said, reminiscing. Barbara Poff recently passed away, and he completed the restoration, her project and labor of love, unwilling to let the project remain unfinished. 

In 1907, the Snake Creek School, on the same lot as the farm, opened and educated students until 1955. Nearly one thousand students attended the two-room schoolhouse in its run. The builders, so the story goes, spent only $28 dollars to construct the schoolhouse. That amount converts to approximately $518 in today's money. "Miss Nettie" Martin, widow of James F. Martin, taught at the school from the mid-twenties until it closed, while running the Snake Creek Farm. When Poff was restoring the schoolhouse, residents of the area would tell him their memories from when they attended the school. As he was cleaning out the building, pulling out the strewn hay and cabbage sacks, he occasionally found artifacts from its past amid the debris. The school, once so rickety and overgrown, is now sturdy and stable––and quirky in the endearing way old buildings have.

Looking at photos of the house and the schoolhouse is like stepping into the past. The black-and-white photos, with men in their suits and hats, look like a different world. Arborvitae trees stand like stately columns in front of the wrap-around porch. The Poffs reduced the trees against the house to only two, making the view from the road seem more elegant and less cluttered. The interior photos of the school and the house, before they were restored, have an romantic, antique feel, like something out of a museum or the story of a neglected manor. The restored buildings preserve the same old spirit, but more polished. Jim and Barbara's hard work has turned two derelict buildings into beautiful pieces of history and a commemoration of this area's past.

Mr. Poff prefers that the property, so long a landmark in the community, stay together as one estate, but has separated it into four tracts for marketability. The auction is Saturday, June 9, at 10 am. He is hosting an Open House Saturday and Sunday, May 26 and 27, 1 to 5 pm and a yard sale May 25 and 26. All are welcome. 

This piece was originally written for publication in the Carroll County News.