Four Oaks Bend

Four Oaks Bend was built for Archibald “Archie” C. Luckie and his wife, Ella Amelia Adams Luckie. After their marriage in 1879, the couple acquired 11.46 acres of land from Stephen Byrd, on which they built their Pine Apple home. The Luckies hired German-born builder Henry Gruter to construct the residence.

The Pine Apple Gazette chronicled the home's progress. In April 1882, the newspaper reported that A. C. Luckie and W. J. Melton had purchased extensive lots in Pine Apple and would soon begin erecting their residences. Additional updates appeared in June and July, and by December the Gazette reported: “Messrs. Melton and Luckie’s new houses are nearly completed.”

On April 28, 1883, the newspaper announced the completion of the Luckie residence: “We are glad to see Mr. A. C. Luckie and family at last moving into their beautiful and truly artistic villa in Pineapple.”

Four Oaks Bend's appearance today reflects extensive remodeling undertaken in 1928 by owners Edward Lamar Williamson and his wife, Ethel Jackson Williamson. The house is a one-and-a-half-story, frame, weatherboarded Colonial Revival residence with a double-pile main block, symmetrical single-pile side wings, and two rear ells.

The front façade features two gabled dormers with round-headed windows and a heavily dentillated cornice. A central, single-bay pedimented porch is flanked by flat-roofed porches on the two side wings. Tuscan columns support all three front porches, and the house rests on a full brick foundation. These Colonial Revival elements largely date from the Williamsons’ 1928 remodeling of the earlier Luckie residence.

Four Oaks Bend was included in the Pine Apple Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Its history, from the Luckies’ “beautiful and truly artistic villa” of the 1880s to the Williamsons’ 1928 transformation, reflects the way Pine Apple’s historic homes have evolved across generations while remaining an important part of the town’s architectural landscape.