The Dr. Van Epp House- Winner of the Cashiers Historical Society's Second Annual Village Heritage Award
Laurel Magazine – June 1, 2005
Each year, the Cashiers Historical Society partners with the Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce and presents a Village Heritage Award. The call goes out for nominations of an individual or family who has preserved Cashiers’ heritage by reusing an older building as a place of business in the community. The structure need not be “historic register” material but can display the creative reuse of one built more recently. The building must contribute to the business vitality of the Cashiers’ community. The winner is announced at the annual Cashiers Area Chamber of Commerce Banquet in early November, and the Village Heritage Award plaque is presented the following spring.
The 2004 winner was Lyn Monday’s House of Design, located 1 MILE from the Crossroads on Highway 107 south. The plaque award ceremony will take place at the winning structure, at 7pm on Thursday, June 9, 2005, during a Chamber of Commerce “After Hours” celebration. All devotees of preserving our historically significant buildings are invited to attend.
Starting in June of 1920, the Dr. Van Epp family of Florida summered in Cashiers Valley. They arrived in a Willys Overland touring car and boarded the first few years in the Minnie Cole house. In 1923, after the Halsteds of High Hampton died, the Van Epps rented High Hampton and spent two wonderful seasons there until the McKees purchased the estate.
Dr. Van Epp decided he needed his own mountain house so in 1925, he ordered an Alladin prefabricated home kit from the Alladin Homes Catalogue. The company was based in Bay City, Michigan, only one of a number of American companies building prefabricated home kits. Its more famous rivals were Sears, Roebuck and Company and Montgomery Ward. When the kit finally reached Cashiers, it was erected by Joe Wright, a local highly skilled carpenter. The house had four bedrooms, living and dining rooms, kitchen, the first inside bath in the area and front, side and back porches.
Since Dr. Van Epp practiced medicine even while on vacation, the house had outer and inner offices in which to treat patients. There were electric lights from a Delco plant that had to be run two hours daily – most mountain homes would not enjoy electricity until two more decades. The house also had a furnace plus fireplaces. There was a large vegetable garden, a cultivated strawberry patch, an asparagus bed, and many flower beds and flowering shrubs and fruit trees.
Lynn Monday, the current owner of this house is a direct descendant of Dr. Van Epp on her mother’s side. On Monday’s father’s side, she is a descendant of the pioneer Norton and Zachary families of Whiteside Cove and Cashiers Valley. She runs a very successful design business from her ancestor’s old home.
