Dave and Tomica Whaley are not strangers to restoring historic homes. At the encouragement of Dave's Grandmother, Freda Doyle Whaley, they purchased the historic home of well-known Knoxville Jeweler, Max Freedman, located in the 4th and Gill neighborhood where they lived for 2 years. They then purchased and restored the historic home of a turn of the 20th century, Knoxville Contractor, D. W. Brimer, on Glenwood Ave., in the Old North Knoxville neighborhood. Brimer built such distinguished structures as Standard Knitting Mills, the Miller's Building on Gay St., and the Blount County Court House. The Brimer House was a fine home and demanded complete restoration. The Whaleys thought it would be fun and would help offset the cost of restoring the house to run a Bed and Breakfast and were very successful doing so. They would have a full house during U. T. Football weekends and met some interesting people. The Brimer House B & B was featured in Southern Living Magazine as one of the South's best. "This was the beginning of the end" after the article was published all 3 rooms were booked Sunday to Sunday. Dave discovered he preferred restoration work to changing sheets and dealing with the, sometimes maddening, behavior of paying guests.

They began taking long drives in the country looking for property and saw a listing on David Dr. in Union County. As it turns out this was not what they were looking for. Neither Dave nor Tomica had ever been to Sharps Chapel so they decided to drive around and headed down Big Valley. When they were approaching Sun Set Bay, Dave says his steering wheel yanked left and he blurted out "our next home is down there." That's when they spotted the big old brick house over grown with brush and vines. Dave guesses they may have trespassed a little when they opened the gate and walked down the long drive to get a closer look. If you are from around here you know that might warrant some buckshots. At that moment, Dave and Tomica say "the house chose them." This beautiful old home was oozing with history and crying for help. It was calling their names and tugging at their hearts. They stopped and asked a neighbor who owned the place and was told that WIVK DJ Gunter owned it. The very next day Dave went to WIVK Radio Station just before time for Gunter to air. He met and shook his hand and said "you don't know me but.........." He learned that Gunter's Dad and Aunt, R. T. Ousley and Pauline Janes, owned the property.

After contacting Ousley the Whaley's hearts sank. They learned the house, not the property, just the structure, had been sold to a Knoxville based salvager who planned to take it down and sell the antique handmade bricks to restoration projects in Charleston, South Carolina. They contacted Brady Salvage about buying the house. As it turned out he had started the salvage project on the Union County property and in the interim had purchased the Old Crowe Whiskey Distillery in Kentucky and had turned his focus there. The Whaleys negotiated with Brady for the structure and Ousley for the land it resided on. That's when they became the owners. Or as they put it, " when the house owned them." Now this is where the "it's meant to be" really sets in. Dave and Tomica had been to the Brady Salvage Warehouse many times looking for materials for their restoration projects and had admired some massive mantels stacked on one side of the building. These mantels that they had walked past and admired for years had come from the Bate Ousley House! They negotiated them into the purchase of the home and have reinstalled them. Once word got out that they had purchased the house they started getting pictures and information from a lot of people. The Ousley Clan held a family reunion there.

They moved their newly purchased mobile home on the property next to the house and in March of 2006, the work began. The first year they cleaned and stacked 30-thousand bricks! One must think of the structure as two homes, the back part and the front part. Their plan was to finish the back of the home to live in and after 5-years of labor they moved in. Work on the front half of the house began in 2011. Dave is meticulously restoring every part of the house. He has rebuilt all the windows as they appeared in 1835, using antique glass salvaged from historic houses in Fountain City and Old North Knoxville. He has recycled salvage lumber, wired and plumbed the house. The only structural changes necessary to make the house flow was to build stairs from the basement to the main level and cut through a 14-inch thick brick wall to connect the front part of the house to the back part. They had a local sawmill cut the materials, mostly yellow pine and poplar, exactly like what was used originally, matching original dimensions. Dave made draw knives to recreate the original molding, and has scrapped and sanded all of it by hand. He has rebuilt four chimneys and two fire boxes with four to go. He has taken two floors off to get to the original flooring which he plans to refinish and reinstall. He will replaster and refinish the walls and plans to cover one wall completely with a mural recreating a painting that Pauline Janes husband did in 1960. The new front porch is as close as possible to the original being done from photos of the house.

When asked what's your future plans, Dave exclaims that in 2019, they plan to add two more porches. When the project is finished in 5 to 10 years, or maybe never, as he never tires from the work, they plan to use the two front rooms to display artifacts about the home and the area. An 18' X 18' two story brick building in back of the house that originally served as a kitchen with living quarters upstairs, and later as a smoke house was taken down. Dave plans to rebuild this structure and use it as a guest house; add geo thermal heat and air; rebuild the corn cribs and out buildings; recreate the atmosphere of the original plantation.

While this endeavor has been taxing on mind, body, and relationship, they still feel the enthusiasm and excitement to finish it. Dave and Tomica have been married for 25 years and share the love for preserving old homes. While the work may be completed in 10 years, the love will continue. They feel like they were lured to Union County and consider the friendships they have developed with the Ousleys and Janes as precious and special. J. T. and Pauline have given their help and support and a wealth of information. The Whaleys love hearing the old-time stories of them growing up there.

A final thought from Dave Whaley: "When contacted to share our Historic Journey with you I felt obligated to share considering the assault lately on our wonderful country's History. Our History is our lasting legacy. We must preserve it and cherish it. Where history is concerned, it must be taught in proper perspective, addendums added, but never removed or shunned in the name of political correctness." This writer could not agree more.