The Cave House (The Adam Hickman House)

The Cave House (The Adam Hickman House)

Abingdon, Va.
History
Culture
Wolf Hills
Daniel Boone
Adam Hickman
Swedenborgian Church
Robert and Mary Porterfield
James and Alice Hilton

Adam Hickman was a local builder and town councilman who built this house and the nearby William Pitts House in the 1850's. Both houses are distinctive but the Hickman House bears an additional distinction from the legendary status of the cave behind it after Daniel Boone camped nearby in 1760. According to legend Boone and his traveling companions were menaced by wolves living in the caves below. The incident which made The Hickman House synonymous with the Cave House also made Abingdon famous as "Wolf Hills."

Hickman House is also known for it's association with Robert Porterfield and The Barter Theatre. According to Nanci King, Alice Brown Hilton, widow of James Hilton, purchased the property in 1949 and bequeathed it to Mr. Porterfield after her death.

Nanci C. King, Places in Time, vol. 1, Abingdon, Va. 1778-1880, pp. 2-4

Society of Architectural Historians, SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012

William Stein, "Abingdon Walks"
archives-wcpl.net/Archive7_Appalachia/project

1760-2011

"Dedication of Labyrinth" (on Swedenborg Church grounds), by W. Garrett Jackson. HSWCVa, Series II, no. 49

"James and Alice Hilton in Abingdon," Robert Preston Warren, Jr. HS Series II, No. 48

photo: Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources

http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-02-WS3
Writing credit: Anne Carter Lee

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English

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Website(s)

Nearby:
James Longley/James K. Gibson House
Dr. William H. Pitts House
The "All Shall be Well" Labyrinth
The Tavern