He built the home because he had to. He built it with his own hands.

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Jerry and Eva

In the heart of the city of Nashville, in a public woodland, Jerry built a home for his beloved Eva.
He was without a home. He was on the streets. Wandering place to place. He worked for a while as a Contributor newspaper vendor so he could try to rent a home. But circumstances prevented him continuing. He is technically disabled now and unable to work. He was “squatting” in a wooded area of the city and he decided why not build his own house?

First he built a little cabin, which is now a guest house–though he rarely has a guest. Then he built a workshop.
He built an outdoor shower, a dog pen for his dog Sheba, a garden, and most recently the “main house.”

Jerry Built a House

A conversation about Al's angel

Al and the photographer

Al&#8217;s house was spared from the tornado

If that post would have came out, the whole house would have collapsed

When a deadly tornado tore across Al Baugh’s neighborhood in North Nashville in March of 2020 uprooting trees and tearing apart houses his house was spared. He credits his yard angel. His angel and God, he says.
The tornado uprooted a tree and it collapsed on the front of the house. Al was standing in the door trying to get out when it happened. “See where it come down?,” he said. “That’s where she was sittin’. If that post would have came out, the whole house would have collapsed.” After workers cut the tree Al said he put the angel on the stump. Picked up her broken wing and put it beside her. “I got up. I put her right there. I said, ‘Thank you, Baby. Thank you.&#8217;”

His wife Dianne bought the angel twelve years ago, he said. She put the angel in a garden out front. Dianne died two years after and he moved the angel to the porch. She has sat there ever since.
Al talked about the neighborhood. A lot has changed in the years he has been in his house. Nashville is changing, he said. But it’s still kind. “This is my city, The Ville,” Al said. Then he chanted, “N.A.S.H.V.I.L.L.E. My city.” Al said he worked at Belmont University. “Twenty-two years,” he said. He was in charge of setting up events. “If you came from New York or you were having a meeting I was the one who took care of it. Met lot’s people.”

Al said his house will be repaired and he will keep living in it. Probably will have to redo the paint job his wife organized so many years ago. “Purple was her favorite color.”

ACT IV, SCENE I

Jerry Built a House

He built the home because he had to. He built it with his own hands.

ACT IV, SCENE I

Al’s Angel