USA > Georgia > Troup County > History of Troup county > Part 19
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QUARTERS. In the luxurious years that followed the cabin era of the pioneers came the age of gigantic plantations, and an essential part of these were the quarters, or slave and servant homes, which were built at some dis- tance from the big house, and were long lines or groups of small log cabins usually one-room, or two-room at most. In the evening when one ap- proached within hearing distance of the cabins, there might be heard the strum of a banjo, or the shuffle of a dance on the bare ground, or the oral petitions raised to Almighty God by some saintly old negro, or the grunts of some rheumatic with a "misery" in the side or back.
THE BIG HOUSE. The house of the master was always called the "big house," which term had no reference to the size as it might be of modest dimensions. There were two distinct types of residences of the early days. One of them was strictly classical in facade with huge Doric or Ionic columns like some temple to house the altar to some heathen god instead of the lares and penates that it held. These houses were two-story with the columns for the full two-story height, and formed the setting for a spacious verandah, which sometimes was extended on the two sides as well as the front. One invariable feature of these temple-light facades was the presence of a bal-
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cony with a grilled balustrade, placed immediately over the front entrance, which in turn was decorated with transom and side lights.
The second form was not so regal in appearance, composed of one-story height slightly elevated from the ground level, and provided with broad low verandahs on three sides. This form resembled the Spanish style with the exception of the central patio and fountain. Numerous small columns dec- orated the surrounding verandahs.
Our county was fortunate in having the services of skilled architects and builders, such as, Cullen Rogers, Charles Bailey, and the Camerons and Greenes, for to them we are indebted for many of the beautiful houses of the ante bellum days, that were built in the forties and fifties of the nine- teenth century.
CHURCHES. The early churches were simple log rectangles seated with puncheon benches and having very primitive furnishings. They were in- sufficiently heated and not infrequently without any provision for lighting except the lanterns brought from their homes by those assembled.
The replacement of these crude buildings took place at an early date, cer- tainly before 1840. The brick churches followed the lines of basilica struc- ture, a rectangular building with a classic facade, and a pulpit recess at the opposite end. Provision for a choir was made at a much later date in one corner near the pulpit and the altar; because in the early days the use of musical instruments in a church was taboo.
MODERN CHANGES. The ceilings of the dwellings were formerly high, and were decorated with plaster mouldings and also rosettes for the chan- deliers. The high ceiling added both to the comfort in summer and to the discomfort in winter. The present day ceilings are low.
The huge fireplaces of the long ago have shrunk to narrow grates, or else have disappeared except as an ornament, where furnaces supply heat. The cellar was once the storage place of wines and liquors, and sometimes of fruits and vegetables.
EARLY HOMES. There are many homes in our county, which are inter- esting from their age and their associations. Many of these are omitted from those enumerated below for the lack of definite information obtainable by the author. Very few of the original houses of the pioneer period are now in existence. Of those built at a date following that period, the strength and the dignity of composition after these many years give testimony to the fact that our forbears built wisely and well.
BELLEVUE. The most interesting and historic house in LaGrange and perhaps in Troup County is "Bellevue," the former home of Senator Benja- min H. Hill. It is located at the north end of Mclendon Avenue, which
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was formerly the juniper-lined driveway to the mansion. The estate origi- nally included twelve hundred acres. The beautiful colonial house crowned the hill, and afforded from the "Court," as the flat roof was called, a pano- rama of exceeding beauty. Far in the rear of the house were the slave quar- ters, orchards and vegetable gardens. The house was surrounded by mag- nolias and beds of old fashioned shrubs and flowers, bordered with boxwood. The walks paved with granite slabs led through the grove of splendid oaks and hickories of the original forest to the massive iron gates at the entrance. These gates, which cost $12,000.00, were replicas of the gates at the White House in Washington. The entire grounds were enclosed by a stone wall, built by slaves.
This house, which is regarded by architects as one of the purest types of southern colonial architecture, has immense hallways and handsome rooms with high ceilings and beautiful plaster cornices, and additional gilt cornices over the French windows. There is a wide portico on three sides of the house adorned with magnificent Ionic columns of two-story height. On the roof above the second story is the "Court" surrounded by a balustrade in keeping with the stately columns.
"Bellevue," which required two years in building, was designed by an architect by the name of Taylor, and was erected on the site of General Hugh A. Haralson's home, which had been burned. The site was purchased by B. H. Hill on November 3, 1853. Mr. Hill built the home for his beloved wife, and she said that she spent the happiest years of her life here. During their residence at "Bellevue," it was noted for its lavish hospitality and the large number of celebrated people entertained. Here Jefferson Davis, Stephen Mallory, Clement Clay and a host of other celebrities were guests. Associated with this house are memories of brilliant dinners, scintillating with wit and repartee; of balls, gay and sparkling with beautiful belles and handsome beaux; and there is the reverse side of this picture also: the many sorrows and anxieties of the war and the poignant emotions of Hill's arrest in his own bedroom by the Federal soldiers.
Mr. and Mrs. Hill sold this house and moved to Athens, and eventually made their home in Atlanta. The estate was bought by Judge Jesse Mc- Lendon, and is now owned and occupied by his son, Millard F. Mclendon.
FERRELL'S GARDEN. Chief among the interesting places of old LaGrange was the home of Blount C. Ferrell, now replaced by the handsome villa of Mrs. Fuller E. Callaway, and the beautiful gardens, which are known throughout the United States. One of the four gardens of "Hills and Dales," formerly known as "Ferrell's Garden," was begun a hundred years ago by Mr. and Mrs. Mickleberry Ferrell, who bought the whole of Land Lot num-
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ber 111 of the Sixth District on December 11, 1831, and moved to LaGrange in 1832. In 1841, Mickleberry Ferrell gave to his daughter, Sarah Coleman Ferrell, eighty acres in the southeast corner of the lot. Sarah Ferrell mar- ried her cousin, Blount C. Ferrell, and together they built a quaint and in- teresting house and immediately began planning their own garden. How pure in design and artistic in structure were these plans of Sarah Coleman Ferrell in 1841, is manifest today as garden experts from the world over come to admire them! One terrace after another, bordered with box and planted with magnolias, and rare trees, shrubs and flowers from far distant countries were added with the passage of years. Among the trees are to be found the shittim wood from the Holy Land, a giant Australian cunning- hamia, whose foliage is renewed every twelve years, a gingko tree from Japan with foliage like maiden hair fern, a linden from Germany, weeping cherry trees from Japan, tea bushes from China, European larches, cryptomarias, aged cedars and magnolias, hawthorn, tea olives, banana shrubs, and a host of others. The ancient cedar from Lebanon was blown down in 1932, but Mrs. Callaway preserved the wood and had a number of interesting pieces of furniture made from the tree.
Mrs. Ferrell originated many quaint conceits in boxwood, among which are noted her own motto "GOD IS LOVE" and that of Judge Ferrell "Fiat Justitia." Mrs. Callaway has added the Callaway coat-of-arms motto "Ora pro mi." Mrs. Ferrell called the lower garden on the west side, "The Church." She shaped from tree-box the figure of an organ, pulpit and chairs, and formed a lyre of box and blooming flowers. Mrs. Callaway has con- tinued this idea by planting old maids and sweet williams for the congrega- tion, jack-in-the-pulpit acts as preacher, while the birds sing, and the mari- golds take the collection.
Judge and Mrs. Ferrell spent seventy years of happiness together in the quaint house and the beautiful gardens, and the joy they gave others through their hospitality and generosity can never be estimated. Mrs. Ferrell died in 1903 at the age of 86, and Judge Ferrell at 92 years of age in 1908.
Four years later, Fuller E. Callaway purchased the estate and erected a beautiful Italian villa on the site of the old Ferrell house. Mrs. Callaway has striven to carry out Mrs. Ferrell's ideas and to keep the old world charm of this peaceful and lovely place. Besides this, she has added thousands of shrubs and gayly blooming flowers, a rock garden, a charming wild flower garden, a beautiful lake with graceful bridges and summer houses. Like Sarah Coleman Ferrell, Mrs. Callaway loves and tends this garden, and prays, "That her employment in Heaven will be to tend and water from the am- brosial fount, flowers that never would in other climates grow."
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NURSES' HOME ON HARALSON STREET. The nurses' home of the Dunson Hospital is one of the oldest residences in LaGrange. It was built in 1829 by Joseph D. McFarlin, the father of R. S. McFarlin, and was sold to James M. Hill in May, 1835, and in turn to Thomas C. Brown in July, 1836, and acquired by James M. Turner about 1839. It was from this house that William W. and Sterling G. Turner went to Brownwood school, and Achsah and Annie Turner to LaGrange College under the Montgomery brothers. It was afterward the home of the Cunningham family, and from them bought by Dr. H. R. Slack, and eventually sold to the city of LaGrange as a home for Dunson Hospital nurses. After one hundred and four years occupancy, the house is still in splendid condition. Colonial builders built for time.
WILKINSON HOUSE, 301 VERNON STREET. This site was originally pur- chased by Whitfield H. Sledge, and sold by him to Pleasant P. Coleman, who built the present house. The purchase was made in 1835 by Coleman. The Wilkinsons, the present owners, formerly owned a dignified home of colonial design, which was located on the site of the McClellan store.
CULBERSON HOUSES. James and David Culberson owned the only saw- mills in Troup County in its early days, and constructed many of the early homes. James Culberson built the house now occupied by Mrs. T. A. At- kinson at 207 Broad Street, sometime prior to the war for his son, J. P. Culberson. It is said that the house was originally built in the country, and taken down and rebuilt on the present site. He also built the house now occupied by J. J. Milam at 203 Broad Street, for Judge J. B. Edwards. The house and grounds embraced about three-fourths of the entire block. It was surrounded by an iron fence, and the massive gates were on the eastern side, facing Lewis Street. The old Banks house, which formerly occupied the space on Broad, Lewis and Vernon streets, now used as a park, was built by Judge William C. Thomas, great grandfather of Mrs. Henry Reeves, and afterwards was acquired and enlarged by James Culberson, who gave it to his daughter, Mrs. Martha Culberson Thornton, grandmother of Mrs. L. D. Mitchell. James Culberson, who lived at the junction of the Harrisonville and Hammett roads northeast of LaGrange, also built another house for his daughter, Mrs. Sarah Culberson Snead, on the site of the Newton home at 117 Church Street.
WARE HOUSE, 311 VERNON STREET. This site was originally bought by Daniel S. Robertson, sheriff of Troup County, on April 14, 1832, and he is said to have lived there several years. The deed to him names the property as the west half of No. 2 Commons, and adds five rods front on Vernon Street from No. 3 Commons, which accounts for the offset in Harwell Avenue. The site was purchased in 1834 by Bennett M. Ware, the grandfather of
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Mrs. Eugene Nix, whose mother, Mrs. Caroline Ware Gay, was born there in 1835. Mrs. Gay will always be remembered for her loyal support of the Confederacy and the civic interests of LaGrange during the war, reconstruc- tion and long afterward. This place was acquired later by Col. James H. Fannin, whose family occupied it for many years. Mrs. Fannin was Julia Ferrell, and inheriting a love of flowers from her ancestors, planted many trees, shrubs and flowers on the place. Mrs. H. E. Cary, sister of Mrs. R. T. Segrest, bought the place in 1909.
BODDIE HOUSE. This house, located seven miles east of LaGrange on the Mountville road, was built in 1836 by Nathan Van Boddie, and was designed by the architect, Cullen Rogers, and is typically southern colonial in style. Its outstanding distinctions are the beautiful Ionic columns, the fan-light transom over the front door, and the immense dining room, which is forty feet in length and twenty in width.
Before the advent of railroads in Troup County, David Beman, who owned and operated the Montgomery and Griffin stage coach line, had a relay station on the Boddie farm, and Miss Belle Boddie relates that her grand- mother consented to serve the passengers meals, and accommodate them for the night if necessary. There were two long tables in the capacious dining room, and four cherry tables which were added when there was an overflow of guests. The fare was abundant and delicious, and Mrs. Boddie realized $8,000.00 from her venture.
The Boddie house was the scene of many brilliant gatherings, both po- litical and social. The handsome dining room was also used as a ball room. Much of the beautiful furniture is still in this house, now occupied by Misses Belle and Van Boddie.
FLOWERS HOUSE. The home of James M. Flowers is located on the Big Springs road in Land Lot No. 157 of Sixth District. The first house was a log cabin, which was used until the present house was built in 1851, and was then used as a kitchen for many years. The Flowers home was noted for its beautiful flower yards, which were designed by Berkman, the Augusta landscape gardener. The boxwood and many of the old fashioned shrubs still survive after the passage of many years. Some of the most beautiful fur- niture to be found in the South is still in this house, now occupied by Joseph Newsom, a nephew of Mrs. Flowers.
E. Y. HILL HOME. The home of Edward Young Hill, for whom Hill Street was named, was a handsome home replaced in recent years by the Junior High School on Hill Street. The home was purchased by Dr. H. S. Wimbish, who resided there until February of 1885, when the place was sold to Maj. A. D. Abraham. It was in turn sold to Robert D. Render in 1898,
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and sometime after his death, the property was purchased by the city of LaGrange for a Junior High School site.
THE OAKS, 1103 VERNON STREET. The town home of Philip H. Greene took its name from the grove of splendid oaks in which it was situated. It was built in 1845 by Philip Hunter Greene, who was his own architect and builder. The house was constructed of timber from the native forest, the trees being felled and the lumber prepared by slaves. The construction is of traditional ante bellum style: all timbers mortised together and secured by wooden pegs; the facade is composed of six massive Doric columns; and the floor plan is that of four large rooms separated by a wide hall. At the rear of the hall is one of the most beautiful curved stairways to be found in LaGrange, among whose interesting features are noted the mahogany stair rail and the quaint niches in the walls for statuary. The walls and ceilings of the lower floor with their frescoes were made of plaster of Paris, and the mantels of black marble imported from Carrara.
At the rear of the house was the glassed conservatory, in which were stored rare plants and shrubs, among which there was a lemon tree that provided fruit for many years.
This property was inherited by the daughter, Mrs. Sarah Caroline Greene Todd. It is now the property of Mrs. Francis J. Dodd and still stands in the dignity and beauty of its early days among the venerable trees from which it took its name.
BROUGHTON HOME. The home of Edward Broughton of ante bellum days was a large two-story house with green blinds, broad halls and spacious verandahs. It was a homelike place with many windows open to the sun- shine and to the fragrance of the garden filled with old fashioned flowers.
Seven daughters went from this home to LaGrange College under the Montgomery brothers, one of which daughters, Mary, married Troup Mont- gomery. This house occupied the site of the house in the triangle between Greenville and Hill streets in LaGrange, now occupied by Mrs. F. J. Pike. Miss Tallie Hill relates that the old Broughton house or at least one on the same site was used in stage coach days as a hotel, probably after Howard's Tavern was sold as a site for the present Baptist Church, which was in 1839.
TALLIE HILL HOUSE, 109 HILL STREET. This is one of the very old homes of LaGrange as it was built before Hill Street was opened, and its po- sition is that of facing on Greenville Street, which explains the angular po- sition in reference to Hill Street. Wiley P. Burks, guardian for Mrs. Hill, bought this home for her in 1853. Mrs. Hill was the mother of five daugh- ters, Frances, Victoria, Mary, Tallie and Mat, and two sons, Abram C. and Albert G. There are a number of beautiful oaks on the grounds surround-
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ing this interesting house that are over one hundred years old. Misses Tallie and Mat Hill have lived in this house continuously for eighty years. They taught a private school there for many years, and many men and women of this community received not only their early education here, but they also acquired the moral precepts from these remarkable women, which have guided them through life. To their keen mentality and wonderful mem- ories, the author is indebted for many interesting facts about the early history of LaGrange.
GEORGE HEARD HOME, 206 BROAD STREET. The home of George Heard is a stately house in a setting of trees and shrubs, which was inherited by his daughter, Martha Heard, who married Judge James M. Beall, and the house was known for many years as the Beall house. There were two sons in the Heard family, the one, Rev. Peter A. Heard, who married Mary Cade Alford, made a great name for himself in Georgia Methodism; the other, Dr. Henry Thomas Heard was equally distinguished as a physician. This house is now the residence of Mrs. George E. Dallis.
DOUGHERTY HOME. The home of Robert Dougherty formerly occupied the whole block on Church Street, part of which is now the site of the Render Apartments. Some of the giant oaks that adorned these beautiful grounds are still standing. The house was a large colonial structure. As Robert Dougherty was regarded as a giant in the legal profession, his home was the frequent meeting place of pioneer celebrities. This site, after the destruction of the Southern Female College on Hill Street in 1861, was the location of the college, the apartments being a portion of the college buildings.
SAMUEL REID HOUSE. The house on the Mountville road, located in Land Lot No. 90 of Sixth District, is one of the first frame houses in Troup County. It was built by Samuel Reid, the county surveyor, and replaced the log house of the early pioneer days. The stately columns were added at a much later date. Judge Reid was the grandfather of Mrs. J. B. Strong. The house today is known as the Glanton house, and stands far back on the north side of the road.
RILEY MARCHMAN HOME. When the early pioneers began to settle in Troup County, Riley Marchman built a home on Land Lot No. 99 of the Sixth District, which is on the south side of the Mountville road. He cleared the ground for his plantation, which was surrounded by Indian cabins and homes. George Marchman, a youth of sixteen in training in Company C of First Georgia Reserves, was killed at the battle of Fort Tyler in West Point, and is buried in the family cemetery on this place.
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WALTER COLQUITT HOME. On the outskirts of the southeastern part of LaGrange, Walter Colquitt bought a tract of land and built a house. While he was never a resident of Troup County, yet he spent all his summers in this country home, which in later days became the property of A. J. Heard.
JOEL D. NEWSOM HOME. This home is located on the north side of the Big Springs road in Land Lot No. 136 of the Sixth District, and was the home of Joel D. Newsom. This house of colonial type of architecture is a replica of the Boddie house on the Mountville road, and was designed by Cullen Rogers, an able architect of the ante bellum period.
LINDSAY HOME, 401 VERNON STREET. This house occupies the site for- merly known as No. 3 Commons of LaGrange, and was the home of B. F. H. Lindsay, whose daughter, Mrs. Bessie Lindsay Walker, resides on Hill Street. After the death of B. F. H. Lindsay, his widow married Dr. William E. Murphey and lived in the same house. John L. Robertson was the next owner, and in the late nineties it was purchased by Mrs. Frank Ward and her daughters, one of whom, Miss Lulu Ward, still has her home and flower gar- den there. Mrs. Ward was a quiet gentlewoman, who looked on the journey of life as a road to Jericho, and deemed the law of human helpfulness one of the greatest laws of the code.
JOHN HILL HOME. One of the very interesting old homes in Troup County is that of John Hill at Long Cane, located in Land Lot No. 189 of the Fifth District. It is similar to most of the houses of former days, co- lonial in style with broad farm lands surrounding it. From this home came three men of marked ability: Dr. John Hill, William Pinckney Hill, and Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill.
ALFORD HOME. The first home built in the western part of LaGrange in Land Lot No. 110, was the home of Julius C. Alford, which formerly was located on the site of LaGrange College. Julius C. Alford, our Congress- man who was dubbed the "War Horse of Troup," was prominent in the early military and political circles, and proposed the name for the city of LaGrange.
Julius Alford was a great uncle of Judge W. T. Tuggle, our popular city court judge. This site was purchased by the Montgomery brothers in 1843 for the erection of dormitories for students of the LaGrange Female Institute, which used the Female Academy on Broad Street for class rooms.
FOREST HOME. The home of Charles Cabiniss Bailey, located in Land Lot No. 252 of the Sixth District, was purchased by him October 28, 1827. Charles Bailey came from Henry County, Virginia, to Forsyth, Georgia, and leaving his family in Forsyth, he brought carpenters with him to Troup, as well as blacksmiths and masons. With this corps of laborers he constructed five two-story houses in the county. In 1850, he built the handsome resi-
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dence known as "Forest Home" on the above mentioned site on the north side of the Hamilton road, near Rosemont School at present. He presented this home to his daughter, Mrs. John Humphrey Traylor, whose descendents still retain possession of the estate. The first ladder steps of the house built in 1827 are still in use to connect the second story of the house with the attic. The old wisteria still climbs across the verandah, and the old garden still boasts of the ancient boxwood, crepe myrtle and tall cedars. What stories of elaborate hospitality, brilliant entertainments of celebrated men, romance, joy and sorrow, this house and garden could tell! Jefferson Davis and a host of others were entertained within its hospitable portals. From this home have gone forth numerous men and women distinguished in the social and political life of Georgia.
BOYKIN HOME. This beautiful old colonial home is located in Land Lot No. 139 of the Fourteenth District, which was originally a part of old Car- roll County. The present house was built in 1849 by John T. Boykin, and was occupied by his son, John T. Boykin, and his children continuously until 1924, and was ever known for the generous hospitality of its inmates.
POYTHRESS HOME. The site of the home of Joseph Poythress was bought by him in 1830 from James and William Daniel, and occupied the site of the present post office in LaGrange. The property was inherited by Frank Poy- thress, who married Caroline Ware, and she in turn became the owner of the property after the death of her husband, and sometime afterward she mar- ried John T. Gay, and lived in the house until her death in 1922. The house was moved to front on Broome Street when the post office was built, and was finally razed in 1925.
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