Photo by Sean Beam
“This house is layered with the love and energy of the ones who lived here long before me. It holds me and calms me like no other place,” says Barbara Adkins, owner of Chancellor House and proprietress of Black Sheep Antiques in Harpersville, Alabama.
Making guests feel warmly received is a traditional Southern way of life. Good manners and friendliness came in part because of the isolation involved in rural living. Hosts were happy to see visitors—maybe even relieved—and turned the house inside out to greet them. Galleries are fresh-air parlors that afford a certain kind of hospitality particular to the South where guests can relax while enjoying a cool drink. Dinner would be served inside on the best china that could be had, even if it wasn’t perfectly matched. Greenhouse flowers were not available in the past, but flowers from the property would have celebrated the seasons, with fragrant blooms of magnolia in summertime or cedar garlands in winter.
Photo by Hector Sanchez
A 19th-century baker’s table with a patinated iron-and-brass base and Carrara marble top provides a beautiful place to set up the bar in the summerhouse, which anchors the garden and serves as an extension for entertaining as well as an art studio for Barbara.
I love for guests, especially those who are new to the house, to walk through the gates of the picket fence, come up the brick walk, and enter through the front portico to the double doors. My garden is always welcoming for guests at any time of year. For evening parties, it is illuminated with string lights, candles placed around the garden and in the chandelier beneath the arbor and standing candelabra in the potting shed. Before parties, it takes about twenty minutes to light them all. From late fall until early spring, I use a large cast-iron washpot as a firepit to warm guests from the outside while their beverages—hot or cold— warm them from the inside. At twilight, the summerhouse glows from one end of the garden, inviting guests to enjoy food and drink and find respite from inclement weather. At Christmas, I hang wreaths on its glass doors, light a fire, and serve hot cider. It’s especially beautiful to be in the garden at night, watching through the windows of the house as a party unfolds inside. There’s a magic to seeing the glowing lights and silhouettes of people moving to and fro while listening to the sounds of laughter, music, and conversation from within.
Photo by Hector Sanchez
Heirlooms and curiosities abound, including an 1830s portrait of Barbara’s great-great-great-grandmother that hangs above a Victorian wax fruit basket protected by a dust dome.
Photo by Hector Sanchez
A bird’s-eye view of the dining table set with Wild Rose English transferware, Old Paris porcelain, Italian faïence, etched goblets, and damask napkins that have been indigo-dyed by Barbara’s friend, Scott Peacock.
Photo by Hector Sanchez
The garden is always illuminated with string lights for parties.
Whatever the occasion, when guests enter the house, we invite them to sign a guest book left open on the butler’s desk inside the front door. This sends a message that every guest is part of the history of the house. When the rooms of Chancellor House are filled with the sound of music and conversation, I think the walls absorb it and gain another layer of life. I don’t care if drinks are spilled on the floor and glasses are broken. They are meant to be used and lived with. It’s the sign of a good party. A truly warm welcome invites guests to be carefree, imperfect, and who they really are.
By Barbara Adkins
Photography by Hector Manuel Sanchez
Excerpted from Past Forward: Reviving an Old Southern House with Collections, Antiques, and Passion, (Rizzoli 2026).
