A historic place: the Avera-Clarke House

Kathrine Alderman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

One of the things Monticello is known for is its historic architecture. Many businesses, homes and bed and breakfasts are on the historic register, and even those that aren't are still a draw. Walking or driving past these old buildings brings a beauty to Monticello that not every town has, and one of those historic buildings is the Avera-Clarke house on West Washington Street.

The Avera-Clarke house is now owned by Troy and Gretchen Avera, who run a bed and breakfast out of it, but the house was originally built by Thomas Clarke in 1890.

Clarke was originally a resident of Georgia and fought in the battle of Atlanta in the Civil War. He studied law while in Georgia and then moved down here, where he worked as an attorney after the Civil War. While here, he became a city council member, a county commissioner, a judge and, in 1906, he and a group of his friends formed what was the FMB Bank in downtown Monticello. This bank survived until last year when it was bought out by The First Bank. Until then, it was one of the oldest independent banks in Florida.

Thomas Clarke was also a member of the House of Representatives and signed the second part of the constitution in around 1885.

Clarke continued to live here until his death in about 1915. Then his son, S. D. Clarke, continued to live in the house his father built. Following in his father's footsteps, S. D. Clarke held all the same positions his father did, eventually becoming the president of FMB Bank. Along with being a member of the House, he was also a State Senator for 28 years and ran the Pork Chop Gang, a group of powerful politicians in North Florida.

Since S. D. Clarke, only four families have owned the house, the Avera's being the fourth. They have owned the house for almost 21 years now, having bought it in 2002. As mentioned, Gretchen Avera runs a Bed and Breakfast out of the house.

Gretchen was an airfreight worker specializing in transporting animals but retired when they moved up to Monticello. Troy is a retired Navy airline pilot and attorney. Troy's parents are from the area, living in Thomasville, Ga. So, wanting to live closer to them inspired the two to move here from Miami and help take care of them as they got older.

About ten years ago, Troy's father passed away, and they began looking for a place of their own. Initially, they only really looked at South Georgia for a place to start a Bed and Breakfast, as that is what Gretchen had come to want to do. They hadn't really thought about North Florida, but they happened to be driving from Thomasville to Panama City, and they saw the house as they passed by, noticing that it was for sale. Troy hadn't been to Monticello in years, the times he remembers being here the most he was riding in his dad's bread truck. "I remembered the community and the older homes from when we'd ride around in Monticello," Troy said. "And now that was the kind of ambiance we wanted to be a part of. With the older homes and stately oak trees and a courthouse circle with a grand old courthouse in the middle of it. So, that's how we ended up in Monticello again."

Unlike many old houses, the Avera-Clarke house was in good condition when the Avera's bought it. The first thing that they were able to do when they got the house was redecorate. Troy was still working when they purchased the house, so he would take his three days off to come up to Monticello to work on the house and move. He refurbished the floors, painted and put up wallpaper, doing nearly all of the early work himself. To make it fit for more modern living, they added on a few bathrooms and a kitchen. They also had to change or add a few things to meet specific requirements for a bed and breakfast, such as adding stairs on the outside to function as a fire escape. They also had to change a set of windows to french doors instead. Besides the addition of the bathrooms, the refurbished master bedroom, and the closed-in porch, which is now a tea room, the house's layout is almost exactly the same. However, they did seal off a few pocket doors to make the house hold heat better.

The windows in the house are still the original rolled glass windows. One floor-length window in the dining room leads out to what was called a smoking porch. This is where, back in the day, the men could sit out and smoke while still being able to listen to the conversation taking place in the dining room. The reason it's a window and not a door, Troy says, is because back in the day, they sometimes would tax you based on the number of exterior doors you had, but windows don't count as doors.
Gretchen is the one who decorated the house. "She's very eclectic," Troy said. "She's collected things throughout her life. Between her and me, we've traveled all over the world." Surprisingly, the style is bent towards oriental, with lots of the decorations having very Asian influences. "I lived in Tokyo for a time," Gretchen said, "so I sort of favor oriental." Though the decorations may lean that way, it isn't the only thing in the house. Gretchen also wanted to run a bed and breakfast that had all antique furniture. So, nearly all the furniture in the house is at least 100 years old, a lot of it being over 200 years old.
The Avera-Clarke House may be the biggest house on the property, but that isn't the only house. Set towards the back of the property, the Avera-Clarke Bed and Breakfast has taken in one of the oldest houses in Monticello.

The Old Roberts House, as Troy says the community would know it as, originally rested down south of the courthouse, but, due to its location, was going to be demolished. So, Troy Avera, to preserve the house, moved it onto their property, making it part of the bed and breakfast as well.

As they moved it and worked on it, they realized that it was, actually, the oldest residential structure in Jefferson County. Built-in approximately 1825, it was built before Monticello became a township in 1827.
Though they had to replace the floors of the Old Roberts House, they were able to keep the ceiling, which is made of hand-hewn lumber. They also upgraded the bathroom when they got it. Originally, the big room, which is the majority of the house, was separated by a single board, making it two rooms, a living room and a bedroom. Now, though, they're combined together to make it more spacious for whoever is using it.

Sometime in the 1890's, what is now the kitchen of the house, was added on to be another bedroom. They also added another set of bathrooms off the kitchen to be public restrooms for when they hold events.

The two houses on the property are both well-kept and gorgeous, and you can tell a lot of care goes into them. Thomas Clarke used to love entertaining guests at his house, and now the Avera's are keeping that love in the house, by running it as a bed and breakfast, housing the guests coming to visit Monticello.