Tag Archives: Georgia Federal Architecture

High Point, Circa 1821 + 1840s, Oxford

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This house, first known as High Point and originally located at the western edge of Covington, was built for John Pace Carr in the Federal style and is attributed to Collin Rogers. He and his brother Henry built many houses in Georgia in the 1830s, always aided by their enslaved laborers. The home transitioned to its more formal Greek Revival appearance in the 1840s, as was the fashion of the day. The owner, John Pace Carr (1797-1875), was a native of Halifax County, North Carolina. In 1863, Carr sold the house to his daughter Amanda and her husband, Madison Derrell Cody (1824-1875), who was a second cousin of William F. Cody, better known as Buffalo Bill.

After years of decline, High Point was saved and moved to Oxford by Jim Waterson in 1975. Mr. Waterson’s story of the move is nearly as fascinating as the history of the house itself. After numerous hurdles, the home finally reached Oxford. It was placed on the site of Bishop James Osgood Andrew’s home, Chestnut Grove, which was lost to fire in 1910. The Carr-Cody-Waterson House, as some identify it, was given a more lyrical name by Jim Waterson: “High Point at Chestnut Grove”.

Federal I-House, Circa 1800, Washington

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This home was originally located nine miles west of Washington, near Beaverdam Creek, and was moved to town in 1838. It is believed to date to the first decade of the 19th century and could be even slightly earlier than that. I will update when I learn more.

Washington Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Bacon-Fraser House, 1839, Hinesville

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Hinesville was established in 1837 to replace Riceboro as the seat of Liberty County. Just two years later, on what was then a 23-acre tract, this Federally-influenced Plantation Plain townhouse was built by Mary Jane Hazzard Bacon, the widow of Major John Bacon of Riceboro.

The property was occupied by Union troops under the command of General William T. Sherman in 1864 and several outbuildings were burned. The house was saved by Mrs. Bacon, who displayed her husband’s Masonic apron for protection. Many more generations of the family owned the home until 2017, when it became the headquarters of the Liberty County Chamber of Commerce and the Liberty County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The beautifully landscaped yard is dominated by historic Live Oaks, some of the largest to be found in inland Liberty County.

National Register of Historic Places

Middlebrooks House – Sparta Female Dormitory, 1832

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According to local sources, this was one of three dormitories of the Sparta Female Model School, built between 1831-1832. In contrast to the other existing dormitory, this one is in good condition and has been a residence for many years.


Sparta Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Sparta Female Dormitory, Circa 1815 & 1832

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The Sparta Female Academy was established in 1832 by Sereno Taylor of Vermont. [Various sources also refer to it as the Taylor Female Academy, Sparta Female College, and Sparta Female Seminary]. It was supported by the Baptists. This and another renovated dormitory are all that survive of the historic boarding school. A preliminary evaluation by architect Brandy Morrison suggests that the rear section of this house is the earliest, circa 1815, with the front being added circa 1831.

A broadside dating to 8 December 1838 heralds the school’s reorganization and an enlargement of the course of study. The seven disciplines: Language; Mathematics; Cosmics; History; Geotics; Government; and Philosophy. Sereno Taylor was superintendent and a teacher in the Literary and Musical Departments. Five assistants were on staff, as well, with the expected arrival, in early 1839, of Madame Salmon Hantute of Paris, for the teaching of the French Language, Piano Forte, and Singing.

Annual tuition varied, dependent upon the level of instruction. It ranged from $25 for primary instruction to $125 for collegiate instruction. Musical instrument training was also on order, beginning with the piano forte, advancing to guitar, harp, and finally, organ.

Sparta Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

James & Cunningham Daniel House, 1810s, Wilkes County

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One of the great landmarks of Federal architecture in Georgia, this highly stylized brick I-house may be unique in the state. This house type is much more common in Virginia and, to a lesser extent, North Carolina but this is the only one I’ve encountered in my travels in rural Georgia. The dedication of family members and later guardians to preserve the house has been central to its continued survival.

James Allen Daniel, Jr., (1740-1821) was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia. With brothers John, William, and David, James migrated through the Carolinas and served as a dragoon in the American Revolution during this time. James was one of three Daniel brothers who married three Cunningham sisters of Amelia County, Virginia [James married Elizabeth Cunningham (1749-1819) in 1767]. In 1791 he was among the early settlers of Wilkes County and one of the fathers of the Presbyterian church in the eastern Piedmont region. Family records indicate that James built the home for his son Cunningham (1768-1839) but may have occupied the property until his death. From Cunningham the home passed to his son James Ewing Daniel; from James Ewing Daniel to his daughter Frances Daniel Dillard; and finally to Frances Dillard’s son, Roy Dillard, who was the last Daniel descendant to occupy the house (1954). The house was unoccupied until 1967 when Roy Dillard’s heirs sold it to the David and Diana Blackburn, who subsequently named it “Kettle Creek Manor” for the three branches of Kettle Creek which run through the property and the nearby Revolutionary War battle site of the same name.

National Register of Historic Places

Solomon-Smith Farmhouse, Circa 1823, Macon

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Built by pioneer settler Henry Solomon as the centerpiece of a 50-acre working farm when it was “out in the country” from Macon, this Early Republic style home is the second oldest structure in Bibb County. It was nearly lost to neglect and deterioration but was rescued and restored in 2002.

Vineville Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Terrell-Stone House, Circa 1822, Sparta

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Built in the early 1820s for Dr. William Terrell (1778-1855), this remarkable Federal house displays a strong Palladian influence. A front porch extending the width of the house was removed during renovations but was likely not original to the structure.

A stone-sided kitchen survives on the property, as does an office said to originally have been a billiard house [below]. Obviously, it was built in the Victorian era and the side room is a later addition.

Dr. Terrell was a leading citizen in early-19th-century Sparta, serving in the Georgia legislature and later as a member of the U. S. House of Representatives. He was the founder and first president of the Sparta Planters Club, an agricultural and social consortium of prominent landowners which aimed to improve farming practices. He endowed the first serious chair of agriculture in the United States at the University of Georgia. Terrell County in Southwest Georgia is named for him.

Sparta Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Eagle Tavern, Circa 1801, Watkinsville

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When the Eagle Tavern was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, it was thought that it was constructed sometime around 1820, but subsequent research has set the date around 1801, possibly earlier. The location of present-day Watkinsville was still a part of the Cherokee and Creek territories when the tavern was built and the seat of the original Clarke County before Athens existed. It’s one of just a few stagecoach, pre-railroad era public structures surviving in Georgia. In 1836 Richard C. Richardson bought the tavern and made numerous additions over the years. In 1934, the tavern was saved from destruction by Lanier Richardson Billups, who deeded it to the state of Georgia in 1956. Under the direction of architect G. Thomas Little, Richardson’s additions were removed, revealing the Plantation Plain original section we see today. It is now home to the Eagle Tavern Museum.

John David Mongin House, 1797, Savannah

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One of just a handful of 18th-century houses remaining in Savannah, the Mongin House (known for a time as the Capital Dwelling House and now known as the Mongin-Carswell House) was relocated here from another lot on Warren Square and remodeled to its present condition in 1964. John David Mongin (1763-1833) set about building it as soon as he arrived in Savannah from Daufuskie Island SC. He was a successful merchant but records of his industry in Savannah are quite sparse.

The house also served as a hospital during the 1876 yellow fever outbreak and a rectory for Christ Church.

Savannah Historic District, National Historic Landmark