Drish House

Dr. John R. Drish began this plantation house off Greensboro Avenue in 1837 and enlarged it into an Italianate mansion with a three-storey tower over the following decades. Drish died in the house in 1867 after a fall down a staircase. His widow, Sarah, is said to have kept candles from his wake and asked that the same candles burn at her own funeral. When she died in 1884, the wish was not carried out. Since then, people passing the house have reported seeing the tower apparently on fire, with no fire, smoke or damage found when anyone checks. Enslaved artisans did much of the construction. The house was later a school and an auto parts warehouse, and it came close to demolition. It is now an event venue.