Although sparsely populated today, Carroll County was even more remote in 1910 when farmer James F. Martin built his residence in a narrow valley bordering Snake Creek. The 13-room house, the county’s most modern dwelling at the time, was in the fashionable Queen Anne style with a complex roofline, projecting three-part bay, and wrap-around front porch with spindle frieze. The gables were decorated up-to-date pressed metal shingles. Inside, Martin opposed convention and had every room completely sheathed in tongue-and grove boards, ceilings included. The house was also the first in the area to have indoor plumbing and electricity. On the grounds of Snake Creek Farm is a two-room schoolhouse built before 1907 and incorporated into the county school system in 1916. Martin’s second wife, Nettie, taught at the school from about 1939 until 1955, when it closed and reverted to her ownership.