Built in 1859, the Cates-Gaither house stands as one of Itawamba County's oldest buildings, a tangible, 19th century piece of history that can be strolled up to and within.

There's also a good chance this relic is at the end of its days.

Standing just off Main Street in Fulton, the slowly deteriorating former home of Pleasant Cates and later Bill and Alice Gaither and later still Grady and Opal Gaither is being considered for demolition by the Fulton United Methodist Church, which owns the property. It's the last resort of a group that doesn't want to demolish the dilapidated structure but absolutely requires the space on which it sits for future endeavors.

It is also from within the church the battle is being led to save the 150-year-old home.

While these dual agendas may seem contradictory, they reflect the difficult position in which the church finds itself. Unable to renovate the home due to costs but in need of the property on which it sits, the church is actively seeking ways to be a good steward of the old house while simultaneously continuing its inevitable shift toward future growth.

A communitywide meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 23, at 6 p.m. in the Itawamba County Development Council office in Fulton to help determine the fate of the old house.

Arranged by church member and Fulton resident Sharion Aycock, the meeting is meant to determine what kind of interest there is in saving the city's oldest home.

The hope, she said, is that some community entity would accept the home from the church, move it to another property and renovate it. She said while the many members of the church desire to preserve the home for the sake of the community, the church itself is simply unable to maintain the property.

"Our church is not in the mission of renovating 150-year-old houses," she said. "But, we want to be a good steward to that house and want to broadcast to the world that this house sits here, and we would like to invite the community to come forward ... and find out if there's a interest in renovating this home."

She said the church would likely be willing to simply give the home to whomever would take it, provided the group or individual would be willing to move the house and have it renovated.

"We've really want to give it to somebody, some entity or some group," Aycock said. "We've worked diligently for two years to find a way in which it might be used by the church, but we don't think there's a proper utilization of the property for the church. There's a sensitivity in owning a 150-year-old house. We want to be prudent enough before we consider tearing down the house that we offer it to the community."

Past and future

Although the house itself seems sizable, only the four rooms in the front of the house are in need of saving. These represent the original home as built by Cates in 1859 and are in good, but steadily declining, condition.

"It was livable two years ago, but it has deteriorated a lot since sitting there empty," Aycock said, explaining why turning the property into a home might be infeasible.

More ideal, she said, would be renovating the home into some form of small museum or monument, similar to home at French Camp along the Natchez Trace Parkway. This would allow future generations a chance to step into the past, providing the community with a valuable asset.

Aycock is hoping some non-profit group or historical agency will be able to accept the home on behalf of the church and receive grant money for its renovation. This first step toward this goal, however, is to see if the community-at-large is even interested in its preservation.

"The truth of it is it's going to have to be a communitywide effort, or it's just not going to happen," she said.

But why such a fuss over a creaky, unlivable old house? Really, it's not the house itself that's important but the history it represents. It's the spirit of the home that's worth saving.

"If we don't preserve the history and heritage in our community, we won't know from where we have come and won't know where we are going," she added. "For our children, for our grandchildren and for our future, we should have a few of those landmarks to go back, point to and say, 'This is where we came from in this county.'"

For more information on the upcoming meeting to save the Cates-Gaither house, contact Fulton United Methodist Church secretary Diane Clark at 862-9530.

Adam Armour can be reached at 862-3141, by e-mailing adam.armour@itawamba360.com or by visiting his blog at itawamba360.com.