Historic Sites - Hunt/Phelann House
02 Hunt/Phelan House
- The Hunt/Phelan House, "a treasure trove" of
19th century magnificence.
This 16-room reddish-brick house in the Federal style was built in two stages, the first in 1830 by George H. Whyett. The second stage, ca. 1855, added a twostory kitchen and service wing, and a two-story porch. In the early months of the Civil War, the house served as headquarters for Confederate General Leonidas Polk. After the Battle of Shiloh, Union General Ulysses S. Grant used the house, planning the siege of Vicksburg in the parlor. The mansion also served as a Union hospital from 1863-1865. A tunnel under the house was part of the underground railroad through which slaves escaped and boarded boats for Illinois. The schoolhouse behind the mansion was built for the Phelan children and the family’s slave children; it is the first school known to have educated blacks in Memphis. In later years the house was occupied by northern teachers sent here to educate newly freed slaves.
Hunt/Phelan House
533 Beale Street, Memphis, TN 38103
(901) 525-8225
