Celtic mythology speaks of a place bereft of toil where old sailors go after death—a bountiful green valley full of mirth and beauty called Fiddler’s Green. And cloistered in scenic hills near Jacksonville, Alabama, Chris and Heather Dempsey have developed their own place of mirth and beauty. Chris is an Emmy Award-winning fiddler who plays in a band that performs Celtic and Irish music. Thus, when the Dempsey’s cleared a hill for their homesite and gazed into the beautiful valley below, they were moved to proclaim, “This is our Fiddler’s Green.” Cindy and I visited them to learn more.
“Yeah, we’re in a valley,” Chris began. “This is a hundred and twenty-five acres. It was my great-granddaddy’s farm. And there’s about fifteen or sixteen of us that still live on the property.” Chris points at a high hill. “My Aunt Dot is in her nineties. She lives up there in my great-granddaddy’s old house. You can go up there and see Mount Cheaha and the Square in Jacksonville. It’s a beautiful area.”
“From our front porch, we can see the library,” Heather adds. Their home is higher than the JSU library, and they can see the library tower’s red lights at night.
We step inside their home. “It’s not an old house. Well, it’s beginning to be an old house.” Chris laughs. “It’s about seventeen, eighteen years old. But most people think it was built two hundred years ago. The driveway is an old field road, so the trees are large and hanging over, giving the appearance that the house has been here for a long time. But this was an apple orchard up here and a watermelon patch that my grandaddy used to farm. So, we chose to put the house here. We love old architecture. And we’ve traveled a lot and seen a lot of historical things.” Heather and Chris are history buffs and retired teachers of English and American literature.
They wanted their home to exude antiquity, so they salvaged architectural elements from the Lockett house (circa 1855) in Jacksonville when it was demolished, including its entrance frame and doors. The Dempsey’s floor plan also resembles Lockett House. Chris’ dad helped clean, repair, and reassemble its historic architectural antiques—staircase, spindles, trim—into the structure. Heart pine cabin-grade flooring from the former Lockett home makes their modern house feel old and authentic. Historic portraits adorn the walls. Chris points to Lockett’s. “Colonel Lockett lived in Jacksonville just two years. He was the first president of the university. General Forney fought with him at Vicksburg. General Forney was from here, and that’s how he (Lockett) came here. Lockett was an accomplished engineer and West Point graduate. He was born in Virginia but raised in Marion, Alabama. The LSU Engineering Department is named for him.”
The Dempseys are walking/talking history instructors, and the home has an almost museum quality to it, featuring a chair from Washington’s Mount Vernon, a sofa from a Revolutionary War era home in Camden, South Carolina, a replica of a historic flag, a 19th-century needlepoint, period oil paintings and wallpaper, a mantle from Jacksonville’s Greenleaf Mansion, an antique plate warmer in the dining room, a large and gorgeous 1840’s French mirror, and an 1850’s grandfather clock from Scotland. A picture of a family ancestor, John Chandler, who was a founding member of Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, hangs on the wall.
In the charming garden-like landscape behind the main house are other structures, including a carriage house where brides get ready for weddings, a quaint chapel complete with a bell, a greenhouse, restrooms, a general store with souvenirs, a “gristmill” banquet structure, and a heated and cooled log cabin that rents for $250 per night or $350 for a two-night stay (when weddings are not happening). The cabin sleeps two and has a full bathroom, kitchen, and upstairs bedroom, plus, of course, a great fireplace. “My great-great-grandfather lived in it, and my great-aunt and uncle lived in it. It was built in the 1850’s,” Chris says. And it’s not too distant from the Chief Ladiga Bike Trail that passes close by. The property also has hiking trails for guests to enjoy.
A rooster is crowing in the distance as we tour the hill. “We hang lights and chandeliers in these trees for weddings,” Chris says. “During weddings, people mill around in every building, shopping and purchasing keepsakes. They want to stay.” And it’s easy to understand why once you’re here. Cindy told me all about Fiddler’s Green, but words don’t do it justice. It’s something you must experience in person. As we chat, I’m looking around for a trail off up the mountain to explore.
The Dempsey’s are flexible when working with brides’ wedding ideas. “We tell them, just whatever you can come up with,” Chris says. And the Dempsey’s make it happen. His granddaddy’s old cotton wagon sits under a lean-to roof. It was last used in 1955. “We pull it out and make a hot chocolate bar out of it, or it’s been used in dozens of ways—tubs of drinks on the back. We had a shrimp boil out here, and they put tubs of crawfish on it. At night, it’s really pretty. We have chandeliers all over the place.”
They do about two dozen weddings per year. “It’s like a movie set,” Cindy says. Indeed, a couple of movies have been filmed here.
“It has all been a labor of love,” Heather says. Reservations may be made on the website at: www.fiddlersgreenweddings.com.
Jeff Barganier is a novelist, travel writer and speaker. He travels far and wide upon the slightest excuse for something interesting to write about. His novels include Lawson’s Bluff (2021); The Slash Brokers (1998). He also manages Cindy Barganier Interiors LLC (www.cindybarganier.com) at The Waters in Pike Road, Alabama. Contact Jeff at Jeffbarganier@knology.net. You may print out his features at www.jeffbarganier.com and take them with you when you travel!