Greenleaves

Augustus Powell built Greenleaves in 1854 after purchasing 40 acres that July. Originally, the residence was a four-room house with a wide enclosed central hall. The kitchen and dining room stood behind the main house and were connected by a covered breezeway, while the front featured a porch with columns resting on brick foundations.

In March 1869, Letitia Roberts Grimes, widow of Wiley Grimes, purchased the house, its original acreage, and an additional 236 acres from the Bloxom family for $3,200. The Grimes family has owned the property since then.

Letitia’s son William Henry Grimes acquired the house and land from his mother and surviving siblings in 1880. Following his marriage to Josephine Watts in 1893, the house underwent an extensive remodeling that created much of its present appearance. Two rooms and three gables were added across the front, and the original columned porch was rebuilt with decorative Victorian “gingerbread” trim. At the rear, the formerly detached dining room and kitchen were incorporated into the main house, and a spacious back porch with matching decorative trim was added.

William Henry and Josephine’s son, Harold Watts Grimes, and his wife, Frances Donald Dudley Grimes, later made the house their home. In the 1940s, Frances named the property “Greenleaves,” the name it has carried ever since.

The house retains many original and early features, as well as an extensive collection of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century furnishings, portraits, photographs, books, textiles, and family objects that have remained with the property through successive generations.

In 1999, Greenleaves was included as a contributing property in the Pine Apple Historic District, when the district was added to the National Register of Historic Places. That same year, the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries recognized Greenleaves and the original Grimes property as a Century and Heritage Farm, honoring its long history of continuous family ownership and agricultural heritage.

From its beginnings as a four-room house in 1854 to its Victorian transformation in 1893, Greenleaves reflects more than 170 years of Pine Apple history. Its preservation, historic interiors, family collections, and continuous connection to the Grimes family since 1869 make it an especially significant part of the community’s architectural heritage.