Hallmark Alum Embraces Southern Roots & ‘Little House on the Prairie’ Life Away From Hollywood

A former Hallmark star has bid farewell to Los Angeles and has started to put down roots in Tennessee. Jill Wagner opened up to People about making the decision and gushed over how much she loves the life they have built.

Wagner starred in several Hallmark projects over the years such as the “Mystery 101” series, “The Angel Tree,” “Hearts of Winter,” and “Christmas in Evergreen: Tidings of Joy.” She also moved over to do several projects with Great American Family and later starred on “Lioness.”

Jill Wagner Could Envision Raising Her Family on the Property

On August 7, People shared their interview with Wagner. She revealed that when she and her then-fiance, David Lemanowicz, first saw the farmhouse that became their home in Tennessee, “It looked like a scary haunted house.”

The house, built in 1912, needed a lot of repairs and had been empty for 10 years. The home, named Scott Mansion, sat on 200 acres of land. Even though it needed a lot of work, the couple couldn’t walk away from it.

Wagner explained, “We wanted a family, and I saw my children running around in the front yard. I knew it could be fixed. And I wanted to be the one to restore this piece of history.”

The former Hallmark star homeschools her daughters, and the family has a dozen cattle and grape vines. “It’s ‘Little House on the Prairie here,” Wagner told the media outlet of the building that serves as their schoolhouse and chapel.

When the couple found Scott Mansion, Wagner had already become confident that it was time to leave Los Angeles. She grew up in North Carolina and felt, “I’m a small town girl at heart.”

She lived in Los Angeles for 20 years, working consistently. Despite her success in Hollywood, Wagner told People she felt “starved of the things I was used to” in living in a small town.

The Hallmark Alum Feels Lucky to Live There Now

Once she moved to the property, Wagner “felt like I gained something that I’d been missing.”

Renovating and repairing the home was a lengthy process that took the couple 18 months. They now live there with their daughters, Amy and Daisy, and an older daughter of Lemanowicz’s visits regularly.

Now, Wagner gushed, “I feel very lucky to be the person that gets to live here. As a girl, I wished I could live in a place this magical.”

Wagner admits that some of her former California friends suggest she must be bored living like she now does. She says she’s not.

“I watch my cows, I garden, I go outside with the girls, we hike. I find my connection on the farm, with human beings and nature,” Wagner raved.

In an Instagram post hyping the interview with People, Wagner wrote, “I’m proud of the life my husband and I have created for our girls.”

She noted she is a “small town girl from Wallburg, North Carolina” who “never thought in a million years that people Magazine would show any interest [in] my little life. I’m humbled and honored.”