Apollo's Jackson House holds generations of history, family ties — including Jimmy Stewart

The General Samuel M. Jackson House in Apollo received a special visitor Friday morning when Indiana County actor Jimmy Stewart’s daughter, Kelly Stewart Harcourt, visited the estate for the first time, and his nephew, Ethan Perry, returned to the house with her.

Stewart often visited the home on Terrace Avenue, being the grandson of General Jackson and growing up in Indiana County.

“My middle name is Jackson because I was named after Samuel Jackson,” Harcourt said. “I didn’t really know much about his history.”

Harcourt visited the mansion for the first time in advance of her visit to the Jimmy Stewart Museum during its 30th anniversary weekend.

She flew from her home in California to return to the museum for the first time in 14 years to participate in a question-and-answer session Saturday night.

“The Samuel Jackson history is a real eye-opener for me,” she said. “It’s pretty inspirational to come here and see it.”

Perry is the “family archivist.” He’s the great grandson of General Jackson and ended up with photos and family history handed down from Bessie Jackson and then his mother. He’s stayed in contact with the museum, the General Samuel McCartney Jackson Foundation and the Apollo Library to learn and share more about the Jackson and McCartney family history.

“Getting to meet these people, it’s not just a phone call or email. It’s actually shaking hands and meeting them,” Perry said.

Living on the opposite side of the state, Perry said every time he returns to the area, he feels his personal ties to his family and Apollo growing stronger.

Harcourt feels the same way about Indiana County.

“In fact, I would say maybe it’s feeling more like a home than Beverly Hills,” she said. “There’s just such a sense of Dad in Indiana.”

Historic household

General Jackson paid $6,000 for construction in 1883 to a local carpenter, C.Y. Hilty, and would spend $1,000 on a porch and other additions.

The four-story home features an original stained glass window, high ceilings, hardwood floors, custom woodwork, crown molding, transom windows, five bedrooms and a covered, wrap-around porch and balcony.

A tower shoots above the main block of the house, and the home features gabled dormers with windows facing every direction.

Rob Jackson, owner of the Jackson House and president of the General Samuel McCartney Jackson Foundation, purchased the home in 2019. He and Bill Kerr founded the foundation after covid-19 restrictions were lifted. The two met when Kerr was superintendent at the Apollo-Ridge School District.

“He saw something in me,” Jackson said.

The two men stayed in contact throughout the years, both having goals to improve the Apollo community. They began the foundation with the intent to raise money to preserve the Jackson family history in Apollo.

Jackson said while the former owner of the house did a very good job of maintaining the home, the structure does need some light restoration.

“The upstairs bathroom was an add-on back in 1910 or so, and the supports fell apart over 100 years,” Jackson said. “We had to jack the porch up and make it stable. When we did that, the bathroom is now not level.”

He said without the jack, the porch leaked. Another bathroom also needs some fixes, and Jackson is hoping to fix up the property’s carriage house as well.

Until the money is raised, the foundation is focusing on the beautification of the home’s property, Jackson said.

Jackson is a descendant of General Jackson’s brother, William John Jackson. He was able to form a relationship with the Jimmy Stewart Museum during a Jackson family reunion.

“We wanted to tie the Stewart family into their Jackson roots,” he said.

He said he was hoping to bring both sides of the Stewart and Jackson story together.

30 years of Stewart

Harcourt called the celebration for her father “mind blowing.”

“It’s very moving,” she said.

There are reminders of her dad all over the Indiana County area, Harcourt said. There’s a Jimmy Stewart Avenue near the museum and a statue of him outside of the county’s courthouse.

She said seeing her father be honored throughout the community is completely different for her than movie fans.

“It’s more special to me than the movie star stuff,” she said. “It’s about honor and who he was as a person and everything he did for his family, and his father and mother.”

Located in the actor’s hometown, the museum features family photos, military uniforms, scrapbooks from Stewart’s war days, his tuxedo and his American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, museum Executive Director Janie McKirgan said. The museum also has a theater that plays Stewart’s films.

“(McKirgan) has done great things with the museum,” Harcourt said. “I was beyond impressed. … It’s grown so much. She’s made it like walking through history at the time — not just of his death — but the time (Stewart) lived in and the time of this country.”

Perry said Indiana County is becoming the center hub of the family. Members are spread out in California, New York, Ohio and elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

“The occasions at the museum and (the Jackson House) pull us back to this home area,” Perry said.

“I think Dad would be very proud, and Dad would approve,” Harcourt said.