Photo by Skye Marthaler
Built on Old Mill Rd. near Old Hopkinsville Pike, Fielding L. Williams (?-1813) and Lucy Williams built the house in a combination eastern Virginia and Greek Revival styles. Williams received a partial share of land (about 200 acres) from the estate of his mother Eliza Williams. The original name for the community was West Fork community. Later, Rev. Samuel Ringgold, an Episcopal bishop from 1864-1874, taught at a nearby school,and the community named changed to honor him - Ringgold.
Whitehall was built between 1839-40 on the banks of the Little West Fork River. Williams had a large tobacco plantation nearby and raised other crops as well. He also owned Ringgold Mills. In the mid-1830s, he formed a group of businessmen to cultivate and promote the tobacco grown in the Clarksville area.
Photo from Montgomery County/ Clarksville Historical Society
After Fielding died, the property passed to Lucy. Lucy Williams and sister Molly Ward founded White Hall School (Whitehall Academy for Young Ladies) for girls in 1845 and kept it open until after the Civil War. Howell Williams, grandson of Fielding, purchased Whitehall in 1900. It was sold again in the 1920s.
Then again in 1946, Dr. Harry H. Morgan, Sr. (1920-1976) and Janice Talton Morgan (1919-2010) bought the property with 156 acres remaining. Dr. Morgan was a long-time veterinarian in the area. Later, Johnny Piper, mayor of Clarksville from the late 1990s-2010, and Donita Piper were the owners. The home is remembered through Whitehall Dr. in the area. NRHP 1978
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