Sabine Hill

Sabine Hill, also known as Happy Valley, Watauga Point, and the General Nathaniel Taylor House, is a historic house in Elizabethton, Tennessee. The two-story Federal style building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It is an excellent example of federal architecture. It was threatened by demolition in 2007 when the owners sought to have the property rezoned for apartments. The rezoning request was denied and the home was bought by several preservation-minded locals who secured it until the State of Tennessee/Tennessee Historical Commission could purchase the museum-quality property. It is now restored and opened to the public on November 1, 2017 as a unit of Sycamore Shoals State Park. The property is operated by the Park under a memorandum of understanding with the Tennessee Historical Commission.
Brigadier General Nathaniel Taylor began building Sabine Hill between 1814 and 1816, after returning home to Elizabethton following the War of 1812. Taylor had been one of the earliest settlers in Elizabethton, having arrived as a boy around 1780 when his family migrated from Rockbridge County, Virginia to the settlement along the Watauga River. By 1796, when Carter County was formed and Tennessee became a state, Taylor owned 1,500 acres of land. That same year, he became the first sheriff of Carter County and one of the first officers in the new state militia. He later served in the Tennessee General Assembly. During the War of 1812 he had command of the American fortifications at the port of Mobile, Alabama. After Taylor returned from the war, he sought to build an impressive home for his family. He selected a site on a hill with a commanding view of Elizabethton's western entrance and Sycamore Shoals. He named the house Sabine Hill, apparently in imitation of Sabine Hall, the Virginia estate of Landon Carter, and is said to have hired a Philadelphia architect to design the home. Taylor died in 1816, before the house was finished. His wife, Mary "Polly" Patton Taylor, completed the project circa 1818–20, after her husband's death. She outlived her husband by 37 years, presiding over Sabine Hill until her death in 1853.

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