Qualla: King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House

King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House: Introduction

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1882 a young man named Joseph D. Mitchell arrived in Bristol with two dollars in his pocket. He boarded with Mrs. Thomas Lancaster, who put him up in what is now the dining room. The first night, looking around at the brick walls and the carved staircase and the gardens stretching down the hill, Mitchell made himself a private promise: he would own this house someday. Nineteen years later, he did. His daughter Margaret was born inside it in 1901 and lived there for ninety-nine of her hundred and two years. The Mitchell family kept the house for over a hundred years, and the boy's vow on his first night in Bristol shaped one of the longest residencies in the city's history.

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0

King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House: Kings Meadows

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. Before the town existed there was a meadow on a hill, and the meadow belonged to Colonel James King, who raised cattle on it. Between 1816 and 1820 he built a two-story brick house from handmade brick at the highest point of his property. A surveyor named John Wood drew an elabor...

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0

King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House: Andrew Jackson at the Door

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. Colonel James King and his son the Reverend James King were the central figures of early Bristol. They ran the iron business and helped found the area's first churches. The Reverend later gifted the land for what became King University. President Andrew Jackson was a frequent vis...

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0

King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House: Layers of Brick

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. Each owner added something. In 1881 John J. Lancaster, a wealthy New York banker, remodeled the house as a gift for his mother and two unmarried sisters. He added Victorian Italianate details and a touch of Colonial Revival, giving the place its current look. About a decade later...

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0

King-Lancaster-McCoy-Mitchell House: Margaret

Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1903 Joseph Mitchell - who had finally bought the house in 1901 - added a kitchen wing with ornate Carpenter Gothic wood columns. Two years before that addition, Margaret Mitchell was born inside the house. She lived there for ninety-nine of her hundred and two years. By the t...

Image: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD | CC BY-SA 4.0