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Thomas Jefferson Johnson built the first house on Pebble Hill about 1827. Johnson’s daughter, Julia Ann, replaced the original structure with a new Main House in 1850. Pebble Hill was sold in 1896 to Howard Melville Hanna of Cleveland, Ohio. Hanna gave the property to his daughter, Kate Hanna Ireland Harvey. She worked with architect Abram Garfield to create the showplace that is Pebble Hill today. A fire in 1934 consumed all but the 1914 east wing addition. Garfield immediately designed plans for a new Main House that included the surviving wing. The third Main House was completed in January of 1936. The Pebble Hill property was inherited by Kate’s daughter, Elisabeth “Pansy” Ireland Poe. Kate and Pansy amassed collections of 19th century furniture, porcelain, silver, crystal, and glassware. Highlights in the collection include a plethora of sporting art by such notable artists as Munnings, Herring, Blinks, Emms, Earl, Ripley, and Bishop. The collection includes 33 Audubon lithographs. Numerous trophies and ribbons won by the Jerseys, horses, and dogs are displayed throughout the Main House. A mural by J. Clinton Shepherd of native flora and fauna is featured in the Big Room.
