One of the oldest houses and greatest landmarks in Fort Gaines, the home of General John Dill has been expanded and altered over the years. Dill came to Georgia in 1817, as an aide to General Edmund P. Gaines. He was given command of Fort Gaines, a frontier garrison on the Chattahoochee River.  Upon the cession of Indian lands in 1826, General Dill retired and became one of the first merchants in Fort Gaines. A successful businessman, General Dill also served Early County as Justice of the Inferior Court, Brigadier General of the Georgia Militia and as an aide to Governor Lumpkin.  The house was purchased by Mrs. S. R. Raymur in the 1890s and remodeled to its present Victorian appearance.

Georgia Ashbaugh writes: I never saw this house painted when my great grandmother, Beulah, was alive. It was gray wood and had a rusty iron fence. My great aunt Ruth would rake the sand yard of the falling moss every day. There were always rake marks in the front yard. There were remnants of train tracks to the left of the house. I’m told it was a train stop for fishermen. My mom said that the lunch buffet would have all kinds of salads, but none with lettuce. My mom had the great fortune of going home from school mid day for lunch at the fabulous hotel buffet. The upper porch was in such bad shape in the 60’s, that I was not allowed to step out on it. But, so, of course, I did. Because it was a working hotel, it had these long wooden boxes in the wide upper hallways that held linens for the beds. I was pretty sure the boxes were coffins. Beulah was 96 when I would visit her in the back room to the right. She sewed my dolls for me when I was very young. The first rag doll was white and blue eyed. She had blonde pigtails and a pinafore. Then granny made a bunch of monkey dolls. They were all gray patterned sock dolls with big red lips. She would play the piano, and stand up from the bench and dance a jig. She liked a little nip right up into her 90’s. People said she once had a pet monkey trained to go into the fisherman’s rooms and steal their booze. I believed this because my mom said that monkeys bite. There must have been a monkey.

National Register of Historic Places