The Cabaniss-Hanberry House, located in the vicinity of Bradley, is one of the most iconic works of domestic architecture in Georgia. The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, who stabilized and restored the exterior in 1999, describes it as “…a vernacular example of Jeffersonian Classicism…and possibly the only remaining house of its form in Georgia...”

The builder of the house, George Cabaniss, Sr., (1744-1815), was the Virginia-born son of Mathieu Etienne Cabanis (1710-1789). His grandfather, Henri Hubert Cabanis (1655-1720), was a French Huguenot who fled to Virginia in the late 1600s.

After service in the Revolutionary War, George married Palatea Harrison (1758-1822), in 1781. In the 1790s, he was one of several Cabaniss siblings who “…began a succession of migrations with parts of their families, first to North Carolina and then to Georgia. Some of the family eventually moved on to Alabama.” He first came to Greene County before eventually settling in Jones County.

He built this house circa 1805, undoubtedly with the labor of enslaved men, and sold it to his son Harrison Cabaniss (1782-1819) in 1811, after building another home near present-day Round Oak. After Harrison’s death, his widow, Sarah “Sally” Kirk Cabaniss (1798-1848) remained on the property until her death. She left 1215 acres and 29 slaves to her grandchildren. The house was occupied by descendants of its builder until the late 1950s or early 1960s.

Some notable descendants of George Cabaniss, Sr., include Dr. Palacia “Pallie” Wilson Stewart (1805-1866), one of the first licensed women physicians in Georgia, and Henry Harrison Cabaniss (1848-1934), an early owner of the Atlanta Journal and vice-president of the Cotton States and International Exposition.

National Register of Historic Places