I certainly hope to learn more about this extraordinary vernacular house, which has a Federal-Plantation Plain form, enhanced by a portico that would be considered somewhat uncommon in this context. 9 over 9 windows are potential hints of an early construction date, perhaps antebellum. I think the double doors are early, as well. It’s such a delightful house, from its setting to its architecture, and is obviously well-loved and cared for by its owners.
Update: Thanks to Eric Korn, I’ve learned that this was relocated here in 1947, at which time the portico, which originally ran along the entire front of the house, was reduced to its present configuration. It was originally used as a stagecoach layover/boarding house in its early days.It’s also referred to as the Shank-Strain House.
This building was on the edge of town in Hogansville, if my memory serves me correctly. It’s just a vernacular structure that I found intriguing. It may have been two houses put together, a sort of duplex, or even an office of some kind. The right side of the building has saddlebag characteristics. While it appears there was a porch on the visible side that has been removed, a shed porch runs across the back side, adding to the mystery. If anyone knows, please reach out.
Typical of Georgia’s grandest town homes, the Bailey-Heard-Dallis House evolved from a smaller and plainer space to a larger, more architecturally-inspired vision. It’s also an important survivor of gentrification, as the 1974 application for the National Register of Historic Places attests: “…the house is currently the only Greek Revival dwelling left in its block. Only a few years ago there were seven such homes on the block.“
Thought to be the oldest house in LaGrange, it was built circa 1828 by General Samuel A. Bailey, who used it as his headquarters during the Creek Indian War of 1836. It was originally a simple vernacular form, with four rooms downstairs and two up, separated by a central hallway. When George Heard bought the house in 1842, he added four rooms and the exceptional colonnade, with six fluted Doric columns on the front and two more on each side of the house.
The home was acquired by George Dallis in 1888 and has remained in his family ever since.
Broad Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Benjamin Harvey Hill (detail), circa 1870-1880. Courtesy Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
Bellevue is a grand Greek Revival mansion, originally the center of a 1200-acre plantation property, built by Benjamin Harvey Hill (1823-1882) for his wife Caroline Holt Hill (1825-1904). It’s surrounded today by one of LaGrange’s premier historic residential districts. It was donated to the LaGrange Woman’s Club by the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation in 1942 and they have been its guardians ever since.
Benjamin Hill, who was born at Hillsboro in Jasper County, has been called a political chameleon for his wavering views and various party alliances. He started his career as a Whig and then became a strong Fillmore-supporting Unionist. Ultimately, he was Southern partisan who voted in favor of secession and quickly voiced public support for Confederate President Jefferson Davis while serving in the Confederate senate. Davis was even a visitor to Bellevue. In response to Reconstruction and the governorship of Republican Rufus Bullock, Hill helped inaugurate the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia during a speech made on 23 July 1868 that supported violence against the governor and others in favor of the Reconstruction government. He was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives and to the U. S. Senate in 1877. He died in office in 1882. Ben Hill County is named for him.
National Register of Historic Places + National Historic Landmark
Fuller & Ida Cason Callaway’s Hills and Dales Estate is one of the great landscape and architectural treasures of Georgia, not to be missed. Ferrell Gardens, from which the property evolved, was established in the 1840s and developed and nurtured over decades. Owned by Judge Blount Coleman Ferrell (January 1816-19 September 1908) and his wife (and double first cousin) Sarah Coleman Ferrell (October 1817-7 December 1903), the gardens were the creation and domain of “Miss Sarah”, as Mrs. Ferrell was affectionately known. They are characterized by boxwood parterres formally set into a gently sloping terrain.
During the time of the Ferrells, the gardens were open to the public and were nationally known. They were even the setting of a novel, Vesta, written by Sarah’s sister, Florida P. Reed, in 1894.
It is considered one of the best preserved 19th century gardens in the United States and is a masterwork of landscape architecture.
Fuller Callaway, who spent time in the gardens with “Miss Sarah” as a boy, purchased the property in 1912 from the Ferrell estate and commissioned Neel Reid and Hal Hentz of the firm of Hentz, Reid, and Adler to design a home that would be worthy of the surrounding landscape.
The end result was this 13,000-square-foot mansion, inspired by the work of Charles Adams Platt and designed to complement the gardens. The Callaways named the estate Hills and Dales, for its sunny hills and shady dales.
Dwarf English Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens ‘Suffruticosa’) is the signature plant in Ferrell Gardens.
Other species include American Boxwood, Tree Boxwood, Spanish Boxwood, and Curly Leaf Boxwood.
There are over 2 1/2 acres of boxwood parterres on the grounds.
A few other iconic species present include: China Fir, Tea Plant, Southern Magnolia, Gingko, Camellia, Banana Shrub, and Tea Olive.
This hedge spells out the word GOD.
In addition to the boxwood parterres, flowering plants can be found in season scattered around the estate.
The gardens have brought much joy in their nearly two centuries of existence and show no signs of slowing down.
Ida Cason Callaway and her daughter-in-law Alice Hand Callaway would be very proud of the legacy they have left behind.
Upon Ida’s death in 1936, her son Fuller Jr. and his wife, Alice Hand Callaway, moved into the home and raised their family here.
After Fuller Jr.’s death in 1992, Alice spent much of her time restoring the house and maintaining the gardens.
It was their wish that the property, while remaining in the family, would be open to the public, and since Alice’s death in 1998, that vision has become reality.
Thanks are due to Mark McDonald of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, Hills and Dales Executive Director Carleton B. Wood, and all the wonderful staff, for making my visit such a memorable experience. If you haven’t been to Hills and Dales, you should seriously consider a visit. There’s nothing else like it in Georgia.
Vernon Road Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This is one of the oldest surviving houses in the Long Cane community, which was settled around the time of the 1827 land lottery. I believe it was built by George Hamilton Traylor and was subsequently the home of his son, John Thomas Traylor.
The dominant architectural style of the house is Federal, but as 1832 is relatively late in the Federal period, the transition to the Greek Revival is evident. It is beautifully proportioned example, anchored by a large tetrastyle portico.
Thanks to Kaye Minchew for her assistance in helping me locate the house via the Troup County Archives.
Long Cane Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Long Cane Baptist Church was constituted in 1829 by Reverend James Reeves. It was a union of Baptists and Presbyterians. The structure, still in use today, was erected in the mid-1830s and still retains its slave gallery, where enslaved people worshiped until the Civil War. The Presbyterians continued to worship here with the Baptists until forming their own congregation, Loyd Presbyterian, in 1887.
Long Cane Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This house, though decidedly Victorian in appearance, appears to be of earlier [probably antebellum] construction; hence my identification as an Eclectic Victorian. It’s possible that it was a Plantation Plain that was expanded later; it features nine-over-nine windows and the entryway has a transom and sidelights. I hope to learn more about it and will update it when I do. It’s an impressive house.
Neel Reid, one of Georgia’s most important 20th century architects, designed this home for local Coca-Cola bottler and distributor George Cobb in 1919. It has been owned by the Ingram family since 1974.
