Construction of the McEntire-Bennett house was started in 1824 and completed in 1836 by John S Rhea. Riverview, as it was originally called, was the center of an 800-acre plantation. All exterior walls are eighteen inches thick, built of bricks made by slaves. The wooden carvings around the doors into the entry are regarded as the finest examples of antebellum work in the state. During the span of 175 years, this historic house has been the home of both planters and slaves, aristocrats, soldiers, merchants, statesmen and servants both black and white, all of whom left a small part of their spirit within its welcoming walls.

The Civil War saw it used as headquarters for both the Confederate
and Union forces as they exchanged the strategic town
and its vital railroad bridge. General Albert Sidney Johnston,
who commanded for the South in the earliest stage of the war,
was headquartered here as a guest of Mrs. Aaron Burleson
(Mollie), whose husband was away serving as a doctor in the
Confederate Army. It was here that Generals Grant, Sherman
and Blair met to plan Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign. This conference
also led to the forced evacuation of all the civilian population.
Decatur was destroyed house by house, and a huge earthwork
fortress was built to defend the river crossing. This house
served both as headquarters and hospital and was one of only
four buildings saved.

During the Civil War, while the town was under fire, a common
soldier died in the house and his comrades tore up the parlor
floor and buried him. His body was forgotten in the mad rush of
war. Soon a ghostly apparition of a maiden in white was seen in
the room. She always seemed to point to a mended patch in the
floor. Some have said that she is the ghost of the soldier’s fiancé
seeking to claim the body of her lost love. The body was discovered
after the war and given a proper burial. Only rarely since
then when the moon is full and the white mists of the mighty
Tennessee wrap their unearthly arms around the house does
she appear, always leading you to the spot on the floor beneath
which the soldier lay.

After the war the house was home to the wealthy Hinds family.
Jerome Hind’s daughter, Grace, was born in the house and
lived the life of a typical young Southern girl. She married
Alfredo Duggan of Argentina and became the mistress of vast
ranches on the pampas. The Duggan family was of British origin
and they lived in London a great deal of the year. After a
happy marriage and the birth of two children, Grace was left
widowed. With the wealth left to her, she became the leading
hostess of London and counted the King and Queen among her
friends. In 1917, she married Lord Curzon and became Lady
Curzon of Kedleston Hall. In her book, Reminisces, she recalled
the southern heritage of her youth and fondly recounted stories
of her nurses and growing up an Anglican in a Baptist/Methodist
town.

In 1896, the McEntire family bought the house and decorated it with antiques including the   magnificent pier glass mirrors over the three mantles. Ann Tankersley, the last of the McEntires to live in the house, sold it to Berval and Sandi Bennett who presently live here.