The death of noted former Coca-Cola bottler and Chattanooga philanthropist Jack Lupton in May brought a renewed interest in the Lupton family’s gifts and contributions to the Scenic City.

And that includes a gift that is no longer around – the massive and now-razed Lyndhurst mansion off Riverview Road that was built roughly 100 years ago by J.T. Lupton, the grandfather of Jack Lupton and the original family member to invest in the profitable venture of bottling Coca-Cola.

Although 50 years have passed since Lyndhurst was torn down – which was also the same length of time that the 34,000-square-foot home stood – it is still around in more ways than people may realize.

For example, some of its old furniture was recently passed down to relatives of Kate Rawlings Poindexter, who was the younger sister of Margaret Rawlings Lupton, the wife of Cartter Lupton and mother of Jack Lupton.

Mrs. Poindexter was orphaned at a young age and had apparently gone to live with the Cartter Luptons in Lyndhurst before the Luptons built another home on the Lupton estate in the late 1920s, a home now resided in by the Kurt Schmissrauter family.

Mrs. Poindexter, who attended Girls Preparatory School as a member of the Class of 1931, later married Jack Poindexter, who ran the Coca-Cola bottling company in Savannah, Ga., where Mrs. Poindexter spent most of her adult years.

Jack’s father, John Poindexter, had been a first cousin of J.T. Lupton.

Mrs. Poindexter lived until April 19, 2006, and would have no doubt been a treasure trove of information about Lyndhurst to younger generations.

For a number of years, she and her husband had a summer home on Wilson Avenue on Signal Mountain that they stocked with porch or sunroom furniture that had come out of Lyndhurst. She supposedly also had some Lyndhurst pieces in her Savannah home, Janie McNabb, the niece of Jack Poindexter, believes.

Ms. McNabb remembered that the home – which was originally a pergola-like outside gathering place --- had the furniture before Lyndhurst was torn down in 1960. Lyndhurst was vacant for a number of years after the death of Mrs. J.T. (Elizabeth) Lupton in 1941.

Approximately two years ago, Mrs. Poindexter’s son, John Poindexter of Richmond, Va., sold the cottage to Trey Powell, and Mr. Poindexter allowed several relatives to have whatever they wanted out of the home, as he had no need for the furniture.

Lori Powell of Signal Mountain, the mother of Trey, said she and her husband, Frank, the great-nephew of Mrs. Poindexter, acquired a dresser, a small table, some china pieces and two porch or sunroom chairs made out of the tropical palm tree material -- rattan.

Mrs. Powell said she likes the furniture, including the dresser. “I love the pulls and the clean lines,” she said. “It just felt like a nice heirloom to pass down.”

Inside the dresser, the Powells found a 1948 letter from Cartter Lupton to Jack Poindexter thanking him for hiring someone at the Savannah Coke plant.

Lyndhurst had several second-floor bedrooms featuring furniture representing different styles, and perhaps the dresser is from one of those.

Meg Bandy, another relative, said she received a wrought iron table and chairs after the relatives drew straws to select.

“It’s neat stuff and Aunt Kate told us a lot of stuff about it,” she said.

Another part of Lyndhurst still around is the pipe organ that was in the second-floor ballroom. All or part of it was given to White Oak United Methodist Church just off Dayton Boulevard, which at about the same time was building a new sanctuary.

The organ was not installed in the rear balcony until 1979, however, after a team led by church member James C. Orr Jr. combined some of the Lyndhurst parts with the parts of an organ that been in Northside Presbyterian Church on Mississippi Avenue, where his mother had been the organist. Prior to that, the parts had been at Mr. Orr’s home.

Longtime White Oak member Celia Hill, who occasionally plays that organ, even though the small congregation now uses primarily a piano for its worship services, said she recently talked with the Rev. Spurgeon McCartt, the pastor at the time, and he remembered going over to Lyndhurst and looking at it before it was taken out.

Mrs. Hill said some members have wanted to get rid of the organ because it takes up so much space, but she has staunchly supported preserving it and has contacted various people about restoring it, a project that would cost more than $50,000.

“I love it and people just love to hear it,” she said.

The organ experts and players who have examined it have told her it is a beautiful-sounding instrument, she said.

What parts of it came from Lyndhurst and what came from the Northside church seem to be as much a mystery as the secret formula to Coca-Cola itself.

What is quite clear, though, is that the Luptons, Poindexters and others enjoyed plenty of success from the drink.

“It’s amazing that a little thing went so far and supported so many people,” said Mrs. Powell.

jcshearer2@comcast.net