When ‘country’ beckoned, the Smalleys built a new house on the backroads of Scant City
Story and photos By David Moore
I
t’s said that every picture tells a story. At Dan and Mary Nell Smalley’s house, at the end of a long drive tucked into the backroads of Scant City, every room tells a story, bears a memory, nods to family history. Even if the house is relatively new – they moved there in 36
July 2019 – and even if the Smalleys downsized from their original house, they still have 5,700 square feet, and that can hold a lot of stories, memories and history. Just for instance … On the mantle in the “outside” kitchen sits a pipe rack with pipes that belonged to Mary Nell’s granddaddy, Billy McDonald Nunnelley, who lived in the HulacoBaileyton area. Hanging on the mantle in the living
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2021
room is Dan’s great granddaddy’s “rabbitear” 12-gauge, so-called because of the dual hammers that stick up from the chambers. That big grandfather clock standing at attention between the hall and Mary Nell’s kitchen? Dan’s dad, Jerrel, traded someone a diesel fuel tank for that. On Mary Nell’s custom-built, square dining table is displayed a quilt made by grandmother Beulah Smalley. Comfy old
