According to the Cumberland County Fire Department, a historic home located about a mile off of Vandever Road burned to the ground late Thursday night (October 12, 2017). Fire crews arrived at the old Jane Wyatt home to see it already destroyed by fire. The log structure was abandoned and no injuries were reported.

The home has a history in the county. The two-story log building in Stephens Gap was constructed in the early to mid 1930’s and had 14 rooms and three and a half baths. Jane Wyatt was a performer in many musicals in New York City and was remembered as a Ziegfield Follies girl. Wyatt loved to travel all over the world as well. Wyatt reportedly used the home in Cumberland County as a summer retreat and held many dinner parties for friends there. In the early 1970’s, Wyatt sold the home to a company in Atlanta, Georgia and moved to another location. She passed away in March 1985.

Years after the last people would live there, several people would walk to the abandoned structure over time to see the way the home was built from logs. The home was considered magnificent in its time of construction and no expense was spared in building it. Others would venture to the home because of alleged tales that it was haunted. Either way, a part of Cumberland County’s history that stood for over 80 years was lost last Thursday night but memories and stories will remain of the old Jane Wyatt home.

A cause of the fire that destroyed the old Wyatt home is unknown.