A graceful home standing at the corner of Gamble and Cates streets in Mayville beckons visitors with an old-fashioned charm.  The front porch and its rocking chairs bring visions of quiet Sundays filled with the fellowship of passing friends.  Huge maples dapple the lawn with shad in the summer and colorful leaves in the fall.

The quiet Southern charm continues into the house itself with the original hardwood floors, arched doorways and working fireplaces.  Photographs are displayed on the mantles and the parlor furnishings are in keeping with what may have been in the house when its earliest residents lived there almost 115 years ago.

Now owned by psychologist Dr. Joy Carroll , the study home known as the Moses Gamble House was built in 1892 facing Cemetery, now Cates, Street.  The renovated structure houses eight offices, including Carroll’s.  The atmosphere is homey, friendly, as if clients were just coming in for a visit.

Gathering the Pedigree

Carroll has researched the history of the house and received much of the information from the descendants of owner Moses Gamble, a prominent Maryville citizen who was an educator and lawyer and who served as state representative, state senator and judge in the local Circuit Court. 

“Everyone has been so cooperative,” Carroll said. “The Gamble family has really extended themselves.” Moses Gamble’s daughter, Mary Catherine Gamble Waldo of Bellevue, provided much of the information.  “She is the only remaining child, and lived here both as a small child and as an adult,”  Carroll said.  “It appears that Moses, after he built a large house because of so many children, still rented this one out until they were adults and they came back and stayed in the house.”

Grace Anthony of Maryville , a frequent guest in the house from 1920 to the 1930’s, also was instrumental in piecing together the history.  Her memories of the house helped Carroll restore the home more closely to its original look.

Nathan Boyd, who built the home in 1892, owned a cabinet shop just north of the home at what is now Lamar Amburn Produce on Court Street.  In 1895, Boyd sold the house to John Hutton, a farmer who served as register of deeds from 1874 to 1878, and Hutton sold the house to Moses and Nancy “Nannie” Caldwell Gamble for $800 in 1901.  The Gambles lived here until 1916, when the revered judge built a larger home on Court Street and rented the smaller one to the Brown family.

Mary Gamble Waldo inherited the home after the death of her father, Moses Gamble, and sold the property to nearby St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in 1941.  The house was used as a parsonage until 1962.  Several owners held the property until Carroll and her husband, Rob, bought the Moses Gamble House in 2003.  They then began renovating the house to be used as offices while at the same time keeping its historic integrity. 

One of the fascinating tidbits of history is that the house originally faced Cates Street .  “That’s they way it is in the pictures from the 1800’s,”  Carroll revealed.  “Then it was moved to face Gamble because the street was named to honor the family and they wanted the house to face the street named after them.”

The 4,000 square-foot house was moved about 50 feet in the early 1930’s.  Even then, the quality of the workmanship was such that little damage was done, Carroll said.

A pictorial journal of the home’s history created by Carroll’s sister, Dona Howell , a kprofessiona researcher in Nashville , is left in the parlor for guests to see. “There is always someone looking through it,”  Carroll said.

Moses Gamble

“Moses Gamble was very handsome, an inventor, very creative, a brilliant man,”  Carroll said.  “His wife, Nancy, called ‘Nannie’ was a very nurturing mother and a wonderful cook.  People speak very highly of both of them.”

Gamble was a very religious man, Carroll said. “When he was a judge, he prayed before and over every decision he made.”  Carroll said.

Education was a priority in the Gamble household.  Moses served in various capacities at Maryville College , including five years as a professor, and served as principal of Porter Academy .  He was superintendent of public instruction in Blount County from 1896-1897 and his wife was a teacher in the Blount County public schools.

“The interesting things about Moses is that he wanted all of his children to finish college,”  Carroll said.  “He had a lot of girls and he wanted all of them to finish college, which was almost unheard of in the 1920s and ‘30s.  And they all did finish, except for the one who died.  Most of them went on for advanced degrees.”

The Gamble children were Helen Rebecca, Ruth, Josias Caldwell (Joe C.), Fred Richard, Dorothy Grace, Mary Catherine and Moses Houston Jr.  Fred died tragically when he was a sophomore at Maryville College .

Moses Gamble died suddenly on August 18, 1934 at the age of 61 while seated on the front porch of his Court Street home.  His son, Moses Jr., was reading the newspaper to him at the time.