Scott-Yarbrough House

Scott-Yarbrough House. . , (Side 1) , Colonel Nathaniel J. Scott, from Harris County Georgia, built this house, which he called Pebble Hill, on 100 acres in 1847. With its pyramidal roof and symmetrical lines, the frame house reflects the Greek Revival architecture popular in East Alabama. The half-brother of John J. Harper, the founder of Auburn, Scott served as one of the four commissioners who laid out the town. Auburn's first state legislator, he was a leader in the establishment of the Auburn Female Masonic College in 1847 and the East Alabama Male College (now Auburn University) in 1856. Federal troops encamped at the spring behind Pebble Hill when they invaded Auburn in April 1865. (Continued on other side). (Side 2) , (Continued from other side). Dr. Cecil S. Yarbrough (1878-1946) purchased "Pebble Hill" in 1912 and it remained his family's home until 1974. A member of the state legislature in the 1920s, Dr. Yarbrough served four terms as mayor of Auburn. During World War II, he also served as a college physician. Under the leadership of Alice Cary Pick Gibson the Auburn Heritage Association purchased the house in 1974 and began restoration. In 1985, Auburn Bank donated the house to Auburn University. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, the raised cottage has hand-hewn heart pine floors and wooden pegged joints and rafters The Ray, Hollifield, Riley, and Hodges families owned the property, 1871-1912.