Category Archives: –BANKS COUNTY GA–

Mason House, Circa 1870s, Homer

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I believe this house was built by William Benjamin Mason (1852-1913), a dry goods merchant in Homer, who came to Banks County from Pickens County, South Carolina, as a young man. I’ve seen it referred to as the Moss Mason House, as well; this could be due to the fact that a son of William Benjamin Mason, Dick Moss Mason (1878-1964) was a longtime resident here. The Plantation Plain architecture, popular in rural Georgia in the antebellum era, was also common in the decade after the Civil War and would suggest a likely construction date in the 1870s.

This house seems to be in danger of being lost without stabilization. I originally thought the outbuilding pictured below to be a dovecote, but now I am not sure what purpose it served.

Homer Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Banks County Courthouse, Circa 1863, Homer

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The date of construction for this iconic courthouse is difficult to track down. In the nomination of the property to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, it was said to have been begun in 1860 and completed in 1875. Brothers John and Samuel Pruitt were noted as the builders. More recent scholarship (I assume) by Elizabeth B. Cooksey in the New Georgia Encyclopedia notes: (the) first courthouse was built in 1863, reportedly with $6,600 in Confederate currency. Either date suggests that slave labor was likely integral to the construction; completion of public architecture during the Civil War seems extraordinary. Confusion aside, it’s one of the most beautiful courthouses in Georgia. Replaced by a modern courthouse on an adjacent lot in 1987, it now serves as a museum, with very limited hours.

National Register of Historic Places