The Pillars a historical home in West Tennessee, built in 1828, named the pillars, native americans!

ThePillars

Washington and Bills Streets
in Bolivar, TN

The Pillars home of the John Houston Bills' Family for 140 years, is now a house museum owned

and maintained by the Hardeman County Chapter of the Association of Preservation of Tennessee

Antiquities (APTA).

The Pillars & The Little Courthouse

Hardeman County APTA

P.O. Box 148

Bolivar, TN 38008

731-518-7148

The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year! The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year! The Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities wants to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

Click the picture above to see who is playing.

Click below to see who has been there!

Congratulations to Ken Savage!

Ken has been selected to receive the First Annual Governor's Volunteer Star Award

for a Hardeman County Adult.

Thanks largely to Ken's efforts we have had a very successful summer of Music on The Square and a special exhibit this summer from the Smithsonian Museum.

The Smithsonian comes to The Little Courthouse in Bolivar!

Come Celebrate with us as we Celebrate American Roots Music!

Featuring: blues, country western, folk ballads, and gospel.

August 9 - September 20, 2008

Celebrating American Roots Music

Click on the above Links for more information.

New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music takes visitors on a

journey through the development of Americans' creative expression through music.

The music that emerges is known by names like blues, country western, folk ballads, and gospel. The main beat of the exhibition is the on-going cultural process that has made America the birthplace of more music than any place on earth.

The exhibition provides a fascinating, inspiring, and toe-tapping listen to the American story of multi-cultural exchange. America the birthplace of more music than any place on earth. The exhibition provides a fascinating, inspiring, and toe-tapping listen to the American story of multi-cultural exchange.

Prices: $5.00 for Adults and $2.00 for Children

See this special exhibit at:

The Little Courthouse Museum

215 Market Street East

Bolivar, TN

(2 blocks East of Court Square)

August 9 – September 20, 2008

Thursdays for school children by appointment.

Hours: Friday evenings 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Friday Nights: Music on the Square 7:00-till?

Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Prices: $5.00 for Adults and $2.00 for Children

Group tours for 10 or more by appointment.

Cissye Pierce at (731) 518-7148

To Schedule Special Tours

or for more information

Contact:

Cissye Pierce: 731-764-6243

or e-mail:

Dianne Mumford's E-mail

Paula Stanley's E-mail

JOHN HOUSTON BILLS
1800-1871

Born in Iredell County, North Carolina, John H. Bills was one of the founders of Bolivar, in Hardeman County, and a leader of the Tennessee Democratic Party in the nineteenth century. He came to the West Tennessee area in 1818 with members of the family of James K. Polk. In 1823 Bills married Prudence Polk McNeal, a cousin of the future president. Bills also began a cotton factoring company with her brother, Ezekial McNeal, which they called Bills and McNeal, and acquired two plantations, one near Bolivar and the other in Mississippi.

Bills was one of the first commissioners for the new town of Bolivar in 1824, and with his brother-in-law, one of the leading industrialists and planters in West Tennessee. He purchased his home, known as "The Pillars," in 1837, from a Philadelphia newspaperman, John Lea, and traveled throughout the eastern United States to furnish it in appropriate style. The mansion is now a historic house museum administered by the local chapter of the Association for the Preservation of Tennessee Antiquities. Bills entertained several notable Tennesseans and southerners at his home, including Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Sam Houston, Leonidas Polk, and Jefferson Davis. After his wife died in 1840, Bills continued making trips throughout the eastern U.S. and Europe. In 1849 Bills married a widow from Virginia, Lucy Anne Duke.

Union troops burned the town of Bolivar in 1864, destroying the business district, including Bills' cotton plant. Bills, however, proclaimed himself neither Unionist nor secessionist, and thus protected his home and much of his wealth from military reprisals. He continued traveling, entertaining, and aiding in the rebuilding of his business and of Bolivar until his death at home in November 1871.

Source: Tara Mitchell Mielnik, Tennessee Historical Commission

Directions: From Jackson: take 18 S. to Bolivar. At intersection of 18 S. and Hwy. 64 turn right onto Hwy. 64. Go 1 block to Washington St. Take L. onto Washington. Go to Washington and Bills Sts. - House (Pillars) at curve.