This exquisite Georgian Cottage, heavily influenced by the Greek Revival, is, architecturally, one of the finest houses in Lee County. According to the History of Lee County, Georgia (1983), it has traditionally been known as the Byne Plantation. It’s still at the center of a large working farm in the historic Oakland community.
Gilbert M. Byne (1825-1910) was the first member of the Byne family to live in Lee County, establishing a large plantation near this site upon his arrival. He married Georgia Virginia McKnight (1854-1924) of Coweta County in 1883 and continued to expand his land holdings throughout his life. He also served as a Lee County commissioner. Gilbert’s grandfather, the Rev. Edmund Byne (1730-1814), migrated from King and Queen County, Virginia, to Burke County, Georgia, in 1781, and founded two churches there.
I first thought the house to be of antebellum construction but after consulting the Lee County history, believe it was built in the early 1880s, soon after Gilbert was married. The history notes that he had a new road cut through the area to accommodate such a place. The Bynes’s only child to live to adulthood, Marilu Byne (1890-1979), married Alvah Wallace Barrett, Sr. (1889-1956), and they continued to maintain the plantation until the waning days of the Great Depression, when they lost the property through a mortgage to the Haley family.
The Georgian Cottage type, two bays deep divided by a central hallway and therefore symmetrical in layout, is inherently Greek Revival in spirit, and this house certainly exemplifies that. It’s a well-maintained beauty.
As you note, this house certainly looks antebellum and it’s design is clearly influenced by the Greek Revival style but it was built after the Civil War. It is a beautiful house in a picturesque location at the intersection of Palmyra Road and Oakland Road in Lee County. Between this house and Albany to the south, just off of Palmyra Road, was the site of Palmyra, one of earliest settlements in the area. The coming of the railroad to Albany led to its eventual decline. Nothing remains of the town now, at least on the surface. There is a historical marker for Palmyra on Palmyra Road just before you get to Fussell Road. Its next to the white church which I think is now abandoned.
At the intersection of Palmyra Road and Fussell Road was once an old store made of logs that was probably built in the 19th Century. It was called the Knox store. Nothing remains of it now.