The Brooks Farm site has a long – and tragic – history.
Built in 1820, the house is located at 1548 Blue Springs Road just off Highway 91 in the Stoney Creek community. The home, which has been placed on the Register of Historic places by the federal government, is currently owned by local audiologist Dr. Daniel R. Schumaier.
The property was a reward to John Michael Smithpeters for his military service and efforts during the Revolutionary War in 1777.
It was later sold to Reuben Brooks.
To obtain labor for the large farm, the Brooks family became slaveholders in a portion of the state where slavery was not common.
The property passed to Reuben Brooks Jr., who born in 1814 and who later married Mary Smithpeters in 1834. Together Reuben Jr. and Mary had seven children.
Neither Reuben Jr. nor his eldest son William would survive the coming war.
Reuben was active in politics and the secessionist movement, but he died shortly thereafter. William took up the cause where his father had left off.
William Brooks began recruiting men and was commissioned as a 1st Lieutenant in the Confederate Army.
The young officer’s recruitment efforts led to his untimely death. As he rode up Stoney Creek, Union sympathizers shot and injured him. He was brought back to his home and placed in an upstairs bedroom. He later died there as a result of his injury. The wooden floor in the room where he died is still stained with his blood.
Also on the property where the reenactment will take place is a portion of the Stover House, built in 1797. It was owned by President Andrew Johnson’s daughter, Mary. This home was also the site of President Johnson’s death in 1875.