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| Nadi Spencer Art |
123 YEARS OLD, this house is the oldest standing house in Three Rivers. And it has been owned by only 2 families, the
Bartons and the
Pierces.
AFTER their journey in 1865, from Davenport, Iowa to California, in a covered wagon with 9 children,
James and Susan Barton homesteaded for a decade in the foothills near what is now Elderwood. They then moved to Three Rivers, becoming the first of six generations of Bartons to reside here. They built the Barton House in 1880, where the family lived for the next 32 years.
IN 1888, the Barton's 11th son,
Mont, married and inherited the ranch. In 1910, at the age of 43, while working on the first electric irrigation pumps in the area, he was killed. He was the first person the be buried at the new Three Rivers Cemetery. His wife and youngest of 4 children moved to Elderwood.
IN 1910, another couple,
James and Julia Pierce, from Coalinga, took a trip to Giant Forest. They traveled by train as far as Lemon Cove, then by stagecoach up the north Fork road, stopping for lunch at the Barton Ranch. (At that time the front door faced the river and the road passed between the house and the river.) The Pierces became enamored with Three Rivers and convinced the Bartons, who no longer wished to own the house since their son's death, to sell the property. Shortly after that, Susan Barton died on her 69th wedding anniversary; 8 months later, James died at the age of 93.
THE PIERCES moved into the house and the family grew. Julia was a teacher and home-schooled her 4 children, eventually sending them to Sulfur Springs School on Kaweah River Drive, and then to Woodlake High School. A second story was added to the maroon house with green trim. Water for the claw-foot tub was heated on the woodstove, as were the family meals. A large copper pot was used to scald hogs, make soap, and launder clothes.
ORCHARDS supplied the family with apples, olives, peaches, plums, apricots, persimmons and pomegranates, and then, eventually, oranges and grapefruits.
A RENOWNED flower garden boasted roses, zinnias, jasmine and 75 varieties of irises, while the vegetable garden produced melons, cabbages and squash to fill canning jars for winter. The Jersey cow "Old Pet" supplied the milk for butter and ice cream.
THE LATE 30's brought many changes. The back porch was screened in, sheltering a wringer washing machine and flush toilet. Due to severe allergies, Jim left the ranch for the relief of a desert climate. All the children left, except Elizabeth and her daughter Juanita, who grew up at the ranch and stayed with "Nana" Julia until she was 12. Then, in 1945, Elizabeth remarried and they moved to Morro Bay. Julia obtained (at age 60) a California Teacher's certificate, taught school and continued to manage the ranch until her death in 1948.
FOR THE next 18 years,
Dale and Virginia Williams rented the house. Virginia was publisher of the Three Rivers Current, the local newspaper. They eventually built a home on Kaweah River Drive, and friend and fellow historian,
Joe Doctor, of Exeter, acquired the cabin as a getaway place for family and friends, spending weekends and summers enjoying the river. After attending college,
Julie Doctor worked in Sequoia Park and lived in the house for the next 17 years. She was able to purchase a piece of the Barton property, and in 1995 built her own house close by.
SAL NATOLI moved in for a year, then handed off caretaker duties to
Billy Hancock, who remains the current resident.
PRESENT OWNERS of the Barton/Pierce house are
Juanita Kibbe Roy Tolle (grand-daughter of James and Julia Pierce, and
Helen Pierce (daughter-in-law of James and Julia).
FEEL FREE to share your story of this historical building in the comment section below.
