It’s always interesting to me to find how interconnected history can be. I never thought in a million years when I pulled into tiny Iuka, Mississippi that I would end up stumbling into the summer home of Colonel Robert C. Brinkley, the builder of the famed Peabody Hotel in Memphis. I found it even more interesting that it was this house which served as the headquarters of Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War. This story sent me down a lot of rabbit holes, but I found the whole thing really fascinating.
Robert C. Brinkley, or “R.C.” as he was known, was born in Chatham County, North Carolina in 1816. He studied law at the Bingham School in North Carolina and moved to Tennessee when he was 20 and went to work as an attorney. Two years later, he married Ann Overton and they would have two children together. When Ann passed away in 1845, R.C. left his law practice and started focusing on real estate. He went on to become the president of the Memphis branch of Planters Bank, and began selling stock in the Memphis to Charleston Railroad.
It was during this time that R.C. traveled to London to try and raise money to purchase the rails necessary to complete this line. There, he met and befriended banker and financier George Peabody (whose finance business would be renamed J.P. Morgan after his death). Peabody would go on to become one of the great philanthropists of his time, donating money to fund institutes, libraries and museums at Harvard, Yale, Johns Hopkins and many others. The Peabody Room at the Georgetown Neighborhood Library in my hometown of Washington D.C. is named for him.
With the money secured to finish his railroad, R.C. returned to Tennessee where he married Elizabeth Mhoon. On their honeymoon, they ended up on a stagecoach riding through northern Mississippi. The stage stopped for the passengers to enjoy the fresh mineral water at Iuka Springs, and the couple marveled at the scenery. They went for a wander and found a house under construction being built by a man named David Hubbard. After they returned from their honeymoon, they went back to Iuka and purchased the half-built house from Hubbard and completed the mansion which would primarily be their summer home, although they would use it as a weekend getaway year round. Iuka was cooler than Memphis in summer, and free of mosquitoes and yellow fever. Elizabeth named the mansion Dunrobin which means “Robert’s Castle”. The grand Greek Revival house had 4 large rooms on the first floor and a 25 foot wide hallway which led to a huge covered courtyard in the back. The kitchen, as was the custom of the time, was separate. Dunrobin had several fireplaces which provided their only heat in winter, and the rooms which had these fireplaces were kept closed to keep the warmth in. One story which I enjoyed, seeing how cold it was in Iuka when I visited, was that one winter at Dunrobin someone spilled a bucket of water in the main hallway, and it was so cold that the water froze on the floor. Seeing a marvelous opportunity, their children strapped on their ice skates and glided on their own private rink inside the house.
The Memphis to Charleston Railroad was completed in 1857, with the silver spike being driven right there in Iuka. It was said that Brinkley had his own personal stop and platform in front of Dunrobin which stands just a few hundred feet from the tracks.
And then the Civil War came to Mississippi. During the Battle of Iuka, Dunrobin was chosen as the headquarters for Generals Grant and Rosecrans. A telegraph line ran from one of the windows all the way to Tennessee. The Generals were apparently respectful guests of the Brinkleys and enjoyed their stay in the mansion. General Grant took a pincushion when he left as a souvenir, and after the war wrote a thank-you letter to the family for their hospitality.
After the war, R.C. went back to real estate, and built many fine buildings in Memphis. In 1869, he constructed a grand 75 story hotel which he planned to name The Brinkley Hotel. During its construction, R.C. got the news that his friend and business partner George Peabody had passed away, so he decided it would be a fitting tribute to name the hotel for him, and The Peabody was born. That original building was torn down in the twenties, and The Peabody we know and love today was built in 1925. R.C. would give the hotel to his daughter Ann as a wedding present, and her decedents would have some hand in its management for the next hundred years.
R.C. died November 27, 1878 at his beloved getaway Dunrobin. The house would and does remain in his family. It’s most recent occupant, William “Bill” Brinkley III lived there until he passed away in January 2019. The future of the home is uncertain.
I really find the story of Dunrobin a fascinating one. I am very thankful to Pam at the Iuka Public Library for helping me research this post, and the amazing book Tishomingo County Mississippi - History and Families Volume 1 which she provided for me to look through. Pam’s daughter married into the Brinkley family, and their reception was held at Dunrobin 30 years ago.