To spot Scuffle Hill, just look for the grand red brick mansion with towering white columns and a stately porch right in front of you, partially peeking out from behind thick green bushes.
Now, gather round for the tale of Scuffle Hill-a house that simply refused to quit! Built originally in 1905 for Col. Pannill Rucker, a man who knew his tobacco almost as well as he knew ambition, the home went up in flames in 1917. But like a phoenix, it sprang back to life between 1917 and 1920, its brick shell filled with laughter, loss, and the ever-present whiff of pipe smoke. You can imagine the excitement as masons laid down granite and poured the concrete foundation, while local folks whispered, “What’s next for the old Rucker place?” The answer: everything! The mansion eventually became home to the Rives Brown family, then to the Pannills of Pannill Knitting fame, and even found a second calling as the parish house for Christ Episcopal Church. The name “Scuffle Hill” is a wink to Revolutionary War hero General Joseph Martin, who grumbled he had to “scuffle” up money to buy his first bit of land nearby. In 1997, this resilient beauty landed on the National Register of Historic Places-a badge of honor for a house that refused to be forgotten.
