| THE MANSION IS NOW PRIVATELY OWNED
By Bob Weaver 2004
"Sylvanius" was built in 1926 by Albert Heck
It was once known as Bowman's Grove, a public picnic site in the late 1800's, located
on a hill overlooking the fledgling Town of Spencer. During the roaring twenties the
land was purchased by oil and gas wildcatter and railroad company investor, Albert
Heck. It was here he built his mansion, and a mansion it was in 1926. He named it
"Sylvanius," after his middle name.
The mansion incorporated the latest technological advances, with numerous
structural and aesthetic features worthy of some of America's greatest homes. Heck
succumbed to the great depression and the property was sold to the F. F. McIntosh
family in 1936. Today the elegant and stately structure sits on wooded and pastoral
grounds, and has been known as The McIntosh Mansion for 65 years. It has been
placed on the National Historical Register.
It has been a home to the McIntosh Family for 65 years
The early days of the mansion have been recorded in "The House on a Hill," by Carol
Evelyn Heck Turner, the daughter of Albert Heck. It is a memorable account of the
lives of people in rural West Virginia, and the rise and fall of the Heck family
fortune.
It is still a centerpiece of life in Spencer and rural West Virginia.
The Sun Porch is a small slice of the five bedroom mansion.
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