No Scearce-ity of Antiques in Shelbyville
Wakefield Scearce has an international reputation among antique collectors

magine having so much silver that you have to hire four or five ladies to come twice a year and stay for a month to polish it all. For Wakefield-Scearce Galleries in Shelbyville, that’s a reality, as this highly-respected antique dealer imports both furniture and silver – and that silver must shine in order to catch the eye of its global clientele.

Often folks are surprised to find a treasure trove of fine English antiques and silver in a quiet country setting just a few miles from the saddlebred horse capital of the world, Simpsonville. But it’s this seeming dichotomy – the pairing of bucolic with sophisticated – that adds to the charm of both the town and the gallery, the latter housing about 40,000-s.f. of it in a complex known as Science Hill.

On the National Register of Historic Places, the lovely red brick buildings of Science Hill date back to the 1790s. In 1792, when Kentucky became the nation’s fifteenth state, Shelbyville was founded and named for the first governor, Isaac Shelby. In 1825, Julia Tevis, wife of a Methodist minister, established a school in the original eight-room structure. A true visionary for her time, Julia was determined to teach young ladies more than just the social graces that era dictated, so in 1825 she offered classes in science, math, art and music. Thus the name Science Hill.

In 1879, the Poynter family took over the school, built additions to total its present 78 rooms, and grew it into one of America’s outstanding girls’ preparatory institutions. Because of the Great Depression, Science Hill closed as a school in 1939, becoming a residential inn, with a wing serving as home for two of the Poynter sisters.

Today, Pat Burnett, president of Wakefield-Scearce Galleries, remembers Miss Harriette Poynter, a music teacher at the school, as bright and active until her death at age 99. Tradition, he says, is a cornerstone of the gallery. He should know, having been hand-picked by his father-in- law, Mark Scearce, in 1979 to carry on that tradition.

Surprisingly, says Burnett, “Wakefield-Scearce was never meant to be a going concern.”

In 1947, Louisville real estate broker Mark Wakefield, who was on a forced three-year business hiatus, walked into the successful jewelry store of his friend Mark Scearce in downtown Shelbyville and offered him a proposition. Inspired by a story in the New York Times about an antique auction in England, Wakefield said he’d foot the bill for Scearce to attend that auction and purchase some merchandise they’d sell at an auction in town.

The jeweler professed to know nothing about antiques, to which the broker replied that Scearce had a good eye for quality. “Buy what you think is good,” Wakefield replied. So Scearce did that. For three years in a row, he’d buy abroad, shipping the items back in heavy wooden crates, and the partners would hold a fairly successful auction in the courtyard at Science Hill.

In the early ’50s, Wakefield returned to real estate, while Scearce decided to rent a room in the boarding house, install a phone, hire a clerk and try to sell a thing or two, retaining the Wakefield-Scearce name. A victim of 40 years of neglect, Science Hill shone once more after a complete facelift by Scearce, who took care to preserve the authenticity of the original structure. By the ’60s, the Gallery was doing so well that he sold the jewelry store. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Raised in Shelbyville, Burnett took a more circuitous route into the antique business than did his father-in-law. Stationed on a nuclear submarine for four years during the Vietnam War, he served a stint as an industrial engineer making tapered roller bearings before Scearce asked him to give the business a try. Though he knew nothing about antiques and was hesitant to work with his father-in-law, Burnett liked “challenges and learning new things.” So with a handshake, he agreed to a year’s trial, and has “never looked back.” Burnett worked with Scearce until Scearce passed away in 1993, the same year he received the National Award for Historic Preservation for his restoration of Science Hill.

By then Burnett could handle the Gallery reins smoothly, having learned from a master and from his own experience. “You can read the books (on antiques),” he explains, “but until you go out and touch them and feel them...I would read at night and come in the store and quiz myself.” Perseverance obviously paid off, for he’s been traveling abroad to buy antiques for the prestigious establishment for the past 12 to 13 years.

“We do a few estates, and a few auctions in this country,” he says. “We have a lot of suppliers constantly offering things to us. We’ve been afforded the luxury of being choosy because we’ve been able to maintain a large inventory.”

The full-time Wakefield-Scearce staff of 15 to 20 doubles to nearly 40 during the holidays, with many local part-timers who’ve been there for years. Though the business is now computerized, not too long ago, it was on the “muffin tin system,” laughs Burnett, explaining that change literally was kept in a muffin tin, with checks and bills in a metal box.

That’s hard to grasp when you’re strolling these sumptuously-decorated rooms full of immaculate antique furniture, accessories and glittery silver, both old and new. Three floors await perusal in addition to those main display areas. Gifts and cards fill its balcony, while on a lower level is the Silver Vault, now a far cry from its former use as a coal bin for the schoolgirls.

Here, you’re as likely to run across a dated 1697 pincushion as a complete silver service once a wedding present from King George V, that was later confiscated by the Germans during World War II and embellished with swastikas and party phrases. You just never know.

“Through the years, and usually every week, people come through the door and say, ‘We’ve been every place and never seen a place like this.’ It’s such a compliment,” Burnett says. “I think a lot has to do with the way we merchandise. We do a lot with room settings, like it might be in someone’s home. We coordinate all the fabrics and accessorize. People seem to respond to that.”

If you’ve never been to Wakefield-Scearce Galleries at Christmas, it’s time to add a new tradition to your holidays. The ho ho ho’s begin with a four-day gala in early November when the entire Gallery is transformed into a fairyland, with wreaths and garlands, twinkling lights and twenty-plus decorated, themed trees.

Throughout the season, the temporary Yule Shoppe is loaded with gorgeous glass ornaments, many of them imported and collectible. Holiday preparations begin in January, when Burnett hits markets in Atlanta and Dallas. Gallery rooms are all changed to their festive best, an intensive, six-week process starting mid-August. “We try to be at our best every day,” he says, “but that time of year is real special here.”

One of the big treats of visiting Wakefield-Scearce is the Science Hill Inn dining room, where meals have been served for some 175 years. For the last 24, the Gill family has been in charge of hospitality here, Terry as proprietor, his wife Donna as Executive Chef and daughter Ellen as Chef de Cuisine. To their Tuesday through Sunday lunch offering, the Gills recently have added Friday and Saturday night dinners.

“We’re Southern but with a twist,” explains Ellen, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who’s been in this kitchen for 12 years. “We use fresh ingredients. Everything’s not fried. We’re known for our bread pudding, shrimp and grits, hot browns and fried chicken.”

Reservations are “strongly advised,” and vital during the holidays, when the 100-seat dining room accommodates three luncheon seatings daily, while larger parties fill the Atrium.

Whenever you visit, rest assured you’ll be treated like an honored guest, in the dining room and in the galleries. That was the vision of Mark Scearce back in 1947. A plaque on the front door bears his quote. “Through this door pass the best people in the world — my customers.”

Katherine Tandy Brown (kathybrown@lanereport.com) is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

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