Peggy Sperry’s model schoolhouse to be auctioned at Pattonsburg alumni banquet for scholarship fund

Peggy lives in Jamesport; she is originally from Pattonsburg.

The town of Pattonsburg moved north about a mile up the hill after the devastating floods of 1993. Homes, shops, churches, the school, about everything, was either moved or rebuilt.

The old school is still standing and Peggy took photographs to work from for her replica. A fire in 1996 destroyed portions of the brick building. She was forced to rely on online information and memory to replicate details of the back.

The model has 180 pieces just on the front alone.

Peggy has been doing the craftwork off-and-on for about 30 years. She first opened a little store full of all kinds and all sizes of bird houses south of the Jamesport Post Office, called Pastime Antiques. This work grew into custom work, making models of people’s homes.

Peggy and her husband Carlin also owned Carlyles, a custom furniture and décor store located in downtown Jamesport. Carlin passed away in 2015 and Peggy has since sold the store.

She still has a workshop in the back of the store where she does the sawing for her model houses

She paints with a regular artist’s brush and writes lettering with a toothpick.

Through the years, she has made models of Gallatin’s Squirrel Cage Jail; three churches in Jamesport, donated to the A.V. Spillman Event Center; three copies of Gas Buggy Antiques for former owners; Jamesport City Hall; the log cabin in the Jamesport park, donated to the fire department.

In addition to the Old Town of Pattonsburg model made in 2015, she has made a copy of the round top school house west of Pattonsburg. Her father-in-law went to school there; it is no longer standing. She made a model of the Jamesport School and of the McFall School, which she attended. She donated the models back to the schools.