Intrigued

This picture has a ton of condition issues yet it intrigues me. I have it hanging in the little tiny hallway that enters from the living/dining space into the bedroom suite. I can see the painting from my dining table. This is an excellent place for this artwork for two reasons. First it doesn't have to compete with the rest of my decor which is called Asian Modern by me and might be called as Eclectic Bargain Basement by everyone else. I prefer my moniker of course. At any rate the painting doesn't really go with anything else. And second, I can see this enchanting scene whenever I eat. I feel compelled by this piece for some reason. I feel that I want to walk up the drive, knock on the door and have a nice glass of tea with the owners out on the veranda. I don't drink ice tea but I would at this home. Maybe the owners would be gentile enough to have mint juleps. Now I do drink those.
My mom sent this painting home with me when I went back to Idabel this summer. She has had it for about 3 years. I said that I was super fascinating by the scene several times. Next thing I know it is being wrapped up in an old quilt to be packed with my other stuff to take back to California. I felt super guilty but Mom said that she wanted me to enjoy so it now hangs not in her bedroom but in my micro hallway.
The provenance of this painting is somewhat interesting. We kind of don't know where it comes from and kind of do. Here is what we do know. About 3 years ago, my mom was helping her friend clean out Auntie's house. This is pronounced A-ni where I am from. It took me years to realize that this was actually Auntie and what we have always used for a courtesy aunt and not their real name. Anyway Auntie was going into an assisted living situation and the treasures she took a life time to accumulate had to be pared down to virtually nothing. During on the of the clean out days, my mom went over to the pile destined for the landfill. She found the painting on top and grabbed it up. Her friend's husband had declared fit to be reclaimed by the earth. Mom, instantly enchanted with the muted tones, asked if she could have it; with the yes answer the painting came to hang on my mom's bedroom wall and eventually made its way to California and my wall.
There is a bit more known about the painting because someone wrote some enigmatic words on the back that we have yet to fully understand. This is what is inscribed "Memory Contest Prize Grammar Room Won by Ruth Templeton for possible 50 years. Age 78 years old May 22, 1831." Was Ruth the artist and she was remembering a scene from 50 years ago? Did Ruth win the painting 50 years ago and now at the age of 78 in 1831 she or someone decided to memorialize the event by noting it down on the back of the painting? What exactly is a Memory Contest anyway? It does seem that the painting was executed in either 1831 or 50 years earlier around 1780.
Last Sunday I carefully wrapped the painting up and I took the painting to a the antique appraisal booth at the local flea market. The first Sunday of the month they have the booth. Of course this was no Antique Road Show event so the appraiser could offer me few more clues that it had huge condition issues (which I already knew) and might retail for $150-$200 (which I suspected). My main question was should I try to clean it and the appraiser answered that I shouldn't because part of the charm lay in the condition issues and would cost a fortune to boot.
I would like to know more but this does not seem likely. I tried to search some photos on the internet of homes that were similar. It has a wrap around porch and seems plantation gates. It should be somewhere in the South due to subject matter the fact that is was in Oklahoma for part of its history.
What ever its history, I love this painting and am somewhat relieved that it isn't worth more than I thought it is because now I don't have to worry about having to get and pay for special insurance. I would be devastated if something happened to it so no amount of insurance money would ever replace the fascination I have with this piece of our American history.