Lulu Hurst demonstrates her chair act. Photograph from “Lulu Hurst (the Georgia Wonder) Writes Her Autobiography, and for the First Time Explains and Demonstrates the Great Secret of Her Marvelous Power”, 1897.
This house was built circa 1820 and and has been remodeled and expanded over the years. It’s sometimes referred to as “Luhurst” for former owner Lula Hurst Atkinson (1869-1950). As a teenager in the 1880s, Lula Hurst traveled around the country performing illusions of strength and levitation under the name “Lulu Hurst, The Georgia Wonder”. After working only two years she gave up performing and married her manager, Paul Atkinson, who once owned the Atlanta Cyclorama. They moved to Madison and Lula lived in this house until her death in 1950.
Madison Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Also known as the Knight-Jarvis-Senft House, for some of the 11 owners who have called it home, this Madison landmark was built by Dr. Gazaway B. Knight, who commanded the locally organized Panola Guards during the Civil War. Dr. Knight’s wife, Isabell, was the daughter of U. S. Senator Joshua Hill. After a fire in 1915, the house, originally a 2-story Colonial, was redesigned to its present appearance. Many original features survived the fire and the house is an outstanding example of the blending of historical and modern amenities.
Madison Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
A marker placed by Morgan County in celebration of their bicentennial in 2007 reads: The town of Godfrey was incorporated by the Georgia Legislature on July 25, 1906. However, this community has much older roots. Local lore places the earliest geographical reference to a community in this area called Hamburg. By the early 1800s the community was known as Antioch for the original Antioch church built there around 1809. By 1839 the area was known as Evansville, perhaps for a local academy that existed there. One of the earliest industries in the area was a grist mill known as Walton’s Mill, operated by the Walton Family. Fire destroyed it around 1950. Mary Perkins Walton, a descendant of the Walton Family, married Dr. James Ervine Godfrey, a former Confederate surgeon. Dr. and Mrs. Godfrey acquired land in this area through her family and owned a plantation called Egypt. For a time, this community was identified with this plantation, and was called Egypt. The community was later named after Dr. Godfrey when the post office opened in the late 1800s. By 1867 two Baptist churches and one Methodist church had been established. The first school was established in the early 1900s. At its peak the town included eight stores, a bank, barber shop, livery stable, icehouse, cotton gin, warehouse, peach shed, railroad depot, post office, and Walton’s Mill. Godfrey depended on the Central of Georgia Railroad for passenger service, mail service and transportation of commodities.
Like many gable-ell houses (or front-gable side-wing), this one incorporates several style elements. Gabled-ell is a generic term for houses that have a protruding room topped by a gable conjoined to a rectangular wing. Some might consider it Queen Anne, but the overall look is Folk Victorian.
Madison Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
