Angie BaileyJim RiekSarah HillMegan MurphyLauren Whitney
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Historic Home Gets Recognized
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The historic home on 830 Court St. in Fulton will be featured in an episode of HGTV's
The historic home on 830 Court St. in Fulton will be featured in an episode of HGTV's "If Walls Could Talk."
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FULTON - If you drive down Court St. in Fulton, you may get the sense that you are taking a step back in time.

HGTV agrees. The show, "If Walls Could Talk" is focusing its camera on one particular home in the historic city.

If the walls of 830 Court St. could talk, the stories they would tell. The old home has been romancing the past since 1855.

"This house was in the Jameson family from 1861 until 1982. And they were founding members of the community of Fulton," said Romancing the Past owner Cate Dodson.

John Jameson, the first of the family to own the home, was an attorney famous for defending Celia, the Callaway County slave on trial for killing her master. Another Jameson helped a future Missouri president get into the Senate.

"W. Ed Jameson was the Mayor of Fulton actually helped Harry Truman get elected," said Dodson. "He was actually very good friends with him. This photo was actually signed to him, Best Wishes to Col. Jameson, Harry Truman."

Cate and Jim Dodson have owned the house for the past three years. They have no relation to the Jamesons, but try to uphold the family's legacy.

"The sad thing is that there have been Jamesons living on this piece of land for over 150 years, and now they're all gone. We kind of feel like we hope we're carrying their name on," explained Cate.

The Dodsons have made it their goal to find out as much as they can about the Jamesons. Some discoveries were painful, while others proved informative.

"Now just feeling like you know the people that once shared this house with you has just been really exciting so," said Cate. "This is a letter from 1900, and he talks about the parquet floor and there's three types of wood in it, and how they're very proud of it."

All of these artifacts made 830 Court St. a perfect candidate for an HGTV profile.

"You never know what a house is going to hold in its walls. You're doing some digging, or tearing up floors and walls and you find something. That's how it starts and then you want to know where this came from, and the history behind it. That's 'If Walls Could Talk.' That's the show," explained Lona Smith, a field producer for "If Walls Could Talk."

Cate e-mailed HGTV after finding out the show's producers were looking for Bed and Breakfasts in mid-Missouri. To get ready for the eight hour plus shoot, the Dodsons did more research on the family, along with lots of cleaning.

"Generally, it's clean always, but we did just that extra little bit of polish to make sure it looked perfect," said Jim.

And the Jameson House, as it was called for years, is a perfect fit for the show. Only one question does remain: Is it haunted?

"I say, if you'd like me to rattle the chains at 3:00 a.m. I can do that for you," jokes Jim. "Full service, you got it. Whatever you want, we'll deliver."

If these walls could talk, the stories they would tell. And now they are.

"It's been a well-loved and well taken care of, this old house," said Jim.

This episode of "If Walls Could Talk" that features the Fulton home won't air until next year. So far, the schedule hasn't been set, but as soon as KOMU finds out, we'll let you know.

Reported by: Megan Murphy
Edited by: Cassandra Novy

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