BOAZ -A three-day estate sale of the late Mike Rolston's effects has drawn hundreds of people since Tuesday, said Dave McKain, executor of Rolston's estate.
Rolston is the former owner of Henderson Hall, built in 1836 by his great-great-grandfather, George Washington Henderson. When Rolston died in December 2007 he bequeathed the place to the Oil and Gas Museum, where McKain is director.
"It has nothing, nothing in it from Henderson Hall," McKain said, "It is all his personal property. His stuff, family stuff, stuff he brought from New York and a lot of very interesting material."
McKain said interest in the estate sale was so intense Tuesday there was no place to park and they needed people to direct traffic.
"We've sold truckloads of stuff," he said.
Items include paintings, glassware, records and scads of books. There is also a 1978 Corvette.
Rolston was a graduate of both Harvard and Yale universities, living in New York before relocating to Boaz to take over Henderson Hall.
McKain said the hall was in the process of being dismantled and Rolston wanted to make sure that wouldn't happen.
Rolston was born in 1933 in Greenbrier County, the son of the late Julian Kenneth Rolston and Jean Henderson (Rolston) Brady. He was raised in Parkersburg and was a 1951 graduate of Parkersburg High School. He attended Marietta College, Harvard University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1958 from the Department of Art and Architecture at Yale University. He worked in New York City as a graphic designer for more than 25 years.
In 1984, Rolston became the owner of Henderson Hall and a large portion of the original Henderson Plantation.
In 1957, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated some 65 acres of the land surrounding Henderson Hall, including the Henderson family cemetery, as Henderson Hall Historic District and placed it on the National Register of Historic Places.
McKain said the proceeds from the sale, which ends today at 7 p.m., will be used for the preservation of Henderson Hall.
