This house has an ornamented tower which is obscured by the trees on the right, but otherwise, its wonderful Victorian Gothic details are visible here. According to the National Register of Historic Places, it was built as a four-room central hallway house and expanded over the years as it passed from family to family. The Victorian triple gables and tower were added around 1885.
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
As John Linley wrote in The Architecture of Middle Georgia: The Oconee Area, “Greek Revival architecture seems to have reached a certain perfection in [this] house.” Originally thought to have been built circa 1836, research now indicates that construction took place between 1852-1854. It was built for Daniel & Elizabeth Trippe Slade. Slade came to Eatonton from Litchfield, Connecticut, around 1828 and after a brief teaching career operated a successful mercantile business for many years. The house was sold to a local judge, named Wingfield, around the turn of the last century and his family remained there until 1975.
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house has intrigued me ever since I first saw it on the cover of John Linley’s The Architecture of Middle Georgia: The Oconee Area many years ago. Linley was able to get a better photograph, as the front yard was less overgrown at the time, but it still looks great.
It was built in the Greek Revival style by Tunis Tunison, who with James Morrison Broadfield built Temperance Hall, the first two-story brick structure in Eatonton, in 1849. Tunison lost the house to William Paschal in a sheriff’s sale around 1860. It’s unclear when the front tower was added, but some sources suggest as early as 1858; others suggest the 1870s. I’m still not even sure as to the provenance of ownership, which varies greatly in sources.
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Constructed from derelict slave dwellings, the Uncle Remus Museum opened in Eatonton in 1963. Its location, Turner Park, was the boyhood homeplace of Joseph Sidney Turner, the inspiration for the “little boy” to whom “Uncle Remus” relayed all his critter stories in Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings (1880) and later works. Turner’s father, Joseph Addison Turner, owned Turnwold Plantation where Harris apprenticed as a teenager during the Civil War. A reconstructed blacksmith shop is also located in the park.
Carvings of many of the animal characters populate the grounds, which are a delight to walk around. These wood sculptures by Chris Lantz are a wonderful addition to the property. And forgive me if I confuse Bre’r Fox and Bre’r Wolf.
Bre’r Fox
Bre’r Wolf
Bre’r Bear
Bre’r Tarrypin
And last, but certainly not least, Bre’r Rabbit.
A statue, like the one on the Putnam County courthouse lawn, is also located on the grounds. It suffered a stolen ear and pipe a few years ago, but was restored.
Owners of this beautifully proportioned house have included John L. Adams, Howell Hearn, and Ben Hume. William Suther was the builder.
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Moved from a nearby location in 1858, this is one of Eatonton’s earliest surviving houses. A simple frame structure reminiscent of the Plantation Plain style, its elevation, chimneys, and eave returns give it a more Federal appearance. The thin Victorian porch posts are obviously a later addition.
Eatonton Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
George Bird purchased this land for $300 in 1810. In 1812, it was purchased by Giles Tompkins (1766-1841), an original settler of Putnam County, for $2000. Due to the increase in value of the land, it’s believed that Bird may have actually built the Inn, but since its history is irrevocably linked to the Tompkins family, it is known as the Tompkins Inn. After Giles died, his widow, Sarah, operated the Inn until the 1850s, when it passed to a granddaughter, also named Sarah. The inn passed to Sarah’s husband, Josias Boswell in 1856. Debt forced the sale of the Inn to A. R. Zachary in 1862. In 1874, Boswell’s second wife, Emmeline, purchased the Inn. Upon Emmeline Boswell’s death in 1910, it was willed to Mary Anderson.
The historical importance of the property was noted as early as 1924, as evidenced by this granite slab, placed by the Samuel Reid Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution during that year. Apparently, the marker was buried in red clay for many years and was uncovered during renovation.
The Federal Land Bank of Columbia (South Carolina) assumed ownership of the site in 1927 and it was purchased, along with many large tracts of land, in 1936. It was then rented as private residence until 1970. In that year, Mrs. T. H. Resseau traded a parcel of land for the Inn and 3 acres and deeded it to the Town & Country Garden Club in Eatonton. Jene Welch notes that it’s now owned by the Eatonton Putnam Historical Society.
It is presently being stabilized. It’s located near Eatonton on US 441.
As of 2021, the inn has been restored.
Slightly west of Eatonton is the crossroads settlement known as Willard. This abandoned store was probably the last business open here.
This structure on Phoenix Road appears to have been a store or commissary, judging by the architecture, but that’s just a guess. I first thought it a school or church, but the lack of windows rules that out. Its proximity to Turnwold Plantation may be a clue.