Marble Hall Beyond Murder

Murder was not the end of Marble Hall. Eventually even the Blackley family moved on and other families took shelter within its ornate walls. The Larmar family lived there during the 1890s. They were there when the only photograph of Marble Hall known to exist was made.

The Trent family moved in around 1900. They would be the final family to live at Marble Hall. In 1907, the historic structure erupted in an intense blaze that took the whole structure down. The authorities never found a cause for the fire.

The ground was cleaned up and, ten years later, a single-room schoolhouse was constructed atop where Marble Hall had been. It was an ideal location, right beside 11-W. Eventually, a second room was added to the structure. The school taught children in grades 1-8.

By the 1950s, the school had fallen into disrepair. Scandal arose when Kingsport Times reporter Doyle Howard was “barred” from the Marble Hall School. He’d attempted to make a surprise visit and photograph the school’s interior. School staff was in the middle of cleaning and preparation for a new year.

The University of Tennessee completed a survey during the 1950s on the school system in the state. Marble Hall was classified as obsolete, and said to pose a safety hazard. The structure was in poor condition and the heating stove posed a fire hazard. The survey classified over forty schools in the county as obsolete.

By the 1970s, the Marble Hall School was no longer visible from the road. The only directions left ten years after that was that the facility was somewhere near Melinda’s Ferry Road.