Alabama's oldest public home, built 1819, was the lifelong residence of artist-poet Maria Howard Weeden — who died in the same room she was born in and, some say, never quite left.
300 Gates Ave SE, Huntsville, AL 35801
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Small admission fee; check website for current rates.
Access
Limited Access
Two-story 1819 brick home; stairs required for upper floor. No elevator.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1819 · Documented as Alabama's oldest standing public home · Lifelong residence of artist-poet Maria Howard Weeden (1846–1905) · Listed on the National Register of Historic Places · Weeden's portraits of formerly enslaved Black Alabamians are among the most significant examples of that subject in 19th-century Southern art
Thomas Weeden built the Federal-style brick home at 300 Gates Avenue in 1819, making it among the earliest surviving residences in Huntsville. The home remained in the Weeden family for generations, most famously occupied by Maria Howard Weeden (1846–1905), an artist and poet who documented the lives of formerly enslaved Black Alabamians through intimate portraits and verse published in volumes such as 'Shadows on the Wall' (1898) and 'Bandanna Ballads' (1899).
Weeden never married and rarely left Huntsville. She was born in an upstairs bedroom of the house and died in that same room on April 27, 1905. Her artwork, which depicted the formerly enslaved people she knew personally, gave their faces and stories a documentary permanence that placed her work in a complicated historical position — sincere in its personal relationships but produced within the context of the Lost Cause era South.
The home is preserved today by the Twickenham Historic Preservation District Association and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It operates as a museum with original furnishings, Weeden's artwork, and period exhibits. It is regularly included on Huntsville's ghost walk circuits and the city's official 'Ghosts of the Rocket City' tourism literature.
Sources
The paranormal accounts at the Weeden House cluster around objects and spaces associated with Maria Howard Weeden herself. The most frequently reported phenomenon is a mantel clock with no working mechanical parts that chimes on its own. The clock has been documented in multiple independent accounts by visitors and museum staff, the most detailed appearing in Deep South Magazine's 2011 survey of Huntsville's haunted history.
A rocking chair — reportedly favored by Weeden during her lifetime — is said to be found in different positions from where staff placed it the previous day. Footsteps on the staircase when no one is on the upper floor are a recurring report. Passersby and visitors looking up at the facade have reported a figure visible in an upper window when the house was confirmed unoccupied.
The Huntsville Convention and Visitors Bureau's official ghost tourism page lists the Weeden House among the city's documented haunted locations, citing the clock, rocking chair, and window figure accounts. Because Weeden was born and died in the same room upstairs over a 59-year span in the same building, the identity attributed to these phenomena is consistent across accounts.
Notable Entities
Docent-led tours of the 1819 Federal-style home, covering the life of Maria Howard Weeden and the home's antebellum history. Visitors can view original furnishings, Weeden's artwork, and the room where she was born and died.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Indianapolis, IN
Hannah House is an 1858 Italianate mansion at 3801 Madison Avenue on the south side of Indianapolis, built by Alexander Hannah, an Indiana businessman who returned wealthy from the California Gold Rush. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Charles City, VA
Benjamin Harrison IV built the current mansion at Berkeley Plantation in 1726, making it the oldest three-story brick structure in Virginia. The plantation became the birthplace of President William Henry Harrison in 1773 and the ancestral seat of a family that produced a signer of the Declaration of Independence and two U.S. Presidents. During the Civil War, General McClellan used the mansion as his headquarters and the cellar held Confederate prisoners.
Macon, GA
Built between 1855 and 1859 for businessman William Butler Johnston at a cost of approximately $100,000, the Italian Renaissance Revival mansion at 934 Georgia Avenue has been called the 'Palace of the South' and is a National Historic Landmark. The Felton family held it through the Civil War period; Confederate general Henry Gray Felton occupied it during the war. The Hay family acquired the house in 1926 and donated it to The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation in 1977.