Riverview at Hobson Grove

Local home offers look into Civil War, Victorian lifestyle

October 14, 2008–College Heights Herald

by Tabitha Waggoner

Herald reporter

In 1861, the Civil War had just begun. The South had claimed Bowling Green as the Confederate capital of Kentucky and burned down the train station.

However, Atwood G. Hobson, a strong supporter of the Union with a 17-year-old son in the war, was worried about his house.

Simon Bolivar Buckner was the Confederate commanding officer who agreed to save the unfinished house because he had fought alongside Edward Hobson, Atwood’s brother, in the Mexican War.

Atwood Hobson and his wife Juliet “Julia” Van Meter Hobson began construction of their new house in 1857, afer his uncle Jonathan Hobson gifted him with 400 acres of rolling, fertile terrain used for raising crops of tobacco, corn, potatoes and other staples.

Only the basement was complete so Buckner’s troops built a temporary roof over it after stuffing it with munitions.

Finally in 1872, “Riverview” (the Barren River can be seen from the northern boundary of the farm) located at 1100 W. Main Ave., was complete.

Today, the home is the centerpiece of Hobson Grove Park, a popular place to play baseball and disc golf, picnic and golf.

The impressive two-story brick house stands on a grassy hill overlooking a huge lawn filled with mature trees that still watch-guard the home.

Jason Hildabrand, Logan County native and 2001 Western graduate with a degree in interior design, volunteers at Riverview once a week. He said the white pine (which stands as tall, or taller, than the house) is the only one surviving of the original six that were planted.

The house is considered Italian because of its characteristic extended eaves and bracketed arch, he said.

“I think it’s probably the best example of Italianate architecture in this area.”

Most of the Hobsons were “staunch” Union supporters while Julia supported the Confederacy, which meant the family “probably had some very interesting dinner conversations,” Hildabrand said. No slaves were at Riverview, instead there were five servants from the Shake Rag district who were “paid $2 a week, a high wage for that time,” Hildabrand said.

The pine floors creak. Hanging on the right wall from the front entryway is a full-length mirror which reflects a painting of Uncle Jonathan Hobson, that hangs over a rose-colored couch.

The main hall–a kind of breezeway, is cool. Natural light beams in through each shutter on the undraped windows in the drawing room and parlor, yet it’s still dim as Hildabrand guides the slowly shuffling tourists inside. A rosewood piano of centuries past stands against a decorated wall. The intricately painted ceiling depicts foliage with diverse shades of pink, yellow and gren. The Hobsons met Fritz Leiber, the French painter responsible for the ceiling artwork, on a trip to New York.

“Leiber lived with the Hobsons for a year while he painted,” Hildabrand said.

Riverview boasts its own bathroom situated on the second floor between the master and children’s bedrooms.

“Atwood created a cistern made from a box of copper lining that would bring rainwater down a pipe and into the bathroom,” Hildabrand said.

After Riverview fell into disrepair, the copper lining was stolen.

Probably the most unique feature of the house is the ocular which leads to the cupola at the top of Riverview. The ocular was a way of circulating the warmer air away from the first two floors of Riverview in the days before air conditioning.

Among Riverview’s residents, the lively George Anna Hobson (named after her parents) stands out. At age 5 she came to live at Riverview. Her father taught her to trapshoot, and by 16 she won the Ladies’ National Trapshooting Championship which led to her friendship with Annie Oakley, Hildabrand said.

Riverview was home to the Hobsons until 1952.

An auction sold most of the family’s posessions, and the house fell into disrepair after chianging hand at least five times; several fires damaged Riverview and the home was looted and vandalized, the Western grad said.

In 1965, Riverview was sentenced to demolition.

However, a group of citizens created the Hobson House Association, and seven years and $104,000 later, Riverview as restored, Riverview Director Sam Terry said.

Jason Hildabrand has also contributed to the restoration of the home. The task was to duplicate the proper, smooth faux-wood graining on some of the doorways of the main floor.

“Sam asked me if I could do it, and I didn’t know [at first] if I could duplicate [the faux-wood] or not,” Hildabrand said, smiling while the tourists murmured their appreciation for his work. Hildabrand is pleased with what he can contribute to Riverview, which attracts tourists from school age to senior citizens.

If Atwood Hobson hadn’t requested that Buckner save his home and if volunteers hadn’t fought to save the house a century later, there wouldn’t be a story to tell, would there?

© 2008 Tabitha Waggoner/College Heights Herald