Whether one is a lifelong Athenian, a newcomer to the City of Athens, or just visiting, they have been welcomed by the majestic John Haywood Jones House as they travel down Clinton Street in Athens. The grand, two-story brick home, currently owned by William Carl Hatchett III, has stood watch over Athens since the mid 1800s and on April 15, 2023, the house and its remaining contents will be auctioned.

“It truly needs to have its next caregiver. It’s like another relative, and I feel bad about leaving the relative,” Hatchett said in regards to his decision to auction the house and its remaining contents.

The Hatchett Family is just one of many important and historical families to call the Italianate house “home.” They have owned the home since 1944, and when Hatchett’s aunt, Julia, passed away in 2020, the house was left to him.

“I am an only child. I am not getting married, and I am not having offspring. I am left to make the decision. As much as I love it — and as much as it makes me feel close to deceased family members and to feel I have been developed by family — there is no one else for this house to go to. It’s not that I am an unwilling caretaker, it’s just that I am the sole caretaker, which is a monumental responsibility. My wish is for the house to have its next family for the next 70 plus years,” Hatchett said.

He added, “I want the right mindset to come in here to maintain the house as a home but knowing the underlying message is, you will be the next temporary caretaker until the next family.”

A curiosity that has grown over the years about the Hatchett home. His aunt Julia, the last of the family to live in the house, was an intensely private person and rarely opened her home to visitors. However, Julia was a beloved school teacher and did share stories about her home to the many students in her classroom, including how Union troops allowed their horses to run through the house during the ransacking of Athens.

“This house is so old, it has had so many unique inhabitants and families in it that it is developed its own identity. There are people who have always had an interest in it. But just like families, we have our quirks, and our quirk is privacy,” Hatchett said.

Hatchett hopes by highlighting the storied history of the house, the right family will want to call it home while respecting the home’s historical integrity. In the coming weeks, The News Courier will give an in depth look at the history and the many fascinating families and individuals associated with the John Haywood Jones House.

“Maybe people will revisit their thinking about what preservation and local heritage means,” he said. “It’s a house, but a house is not a home unless there are families. This particular house has its own identity through the families that have lived here, the reason it was built, and it survived the Civil War.”