Every time I’m in Crawfordville I check to make sure this house is still standing. It’s one of my favorite houses in Georgia, though notoriously difficult to photograph. It is essentially a Greek Revival form with Gothic Revival elements.
The only information I’ve been able to gather from locals is that it was the home of Dr. White, and that it’s been empty for many years. I hope someone can save it before it’s too late.
This is next door to the colorful Queen Anne shown in the previous post.
This location has been featured in several Hollywood movies, including Sweet Home Alabama. It was about the only place to get a good home-cooked meal in Crawfordville for nearly sixty years, and Mrs. Annie Lou Bonner was a well-loved local fixture throughout her long life. It closed in1997, but has since been reopened with another name.
Crawfordville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Liberty Hall was the home of Confederate Vice-President and Georgia Governor Alexander Hamilton Stephens, known as Little Aleck for his small stature. Though often associated with the Civil War, the historic house you see today was actually built after the war. The rear ell of the house, partly visible in the next photo, dates to circa 1858.
Stephens moved to the property in 1834 to board with his stepmother’s sister and her husband in the predecessor to this house. They died in 1842 and the never-married Stephens purchased the property in 1845, naming it Bachelor’s Hall. It was later named Liberty Hall.
An extensive renovation was completed in the 1990s by Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, painstakingly replacing period textiles, wallpapers and paints.
Sculptor Gutzon Borglum‘s imposing marble statue of the statesman, installed by contractor T. Markwalter of Augusta in 1893, keeps guard from the front lawn of the estate. Stephens is buried adjacent to the monument.
National Historic Landmark, National Register of Historic Places
A Dixie Welcome to Crawfordville, Ga.
Crawfordville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Augusta architect Lewis F. (L. F.) Goodrich‘s High Victorian design for this courthouse was built by J. H. McKenzie. The site was the location of the first Taliaferro county courthouse, built in 1828.
National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 