Tag Archives: Georgia Houses

Hazlehurst Landmark Faces Demolition

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An abandoned, weathered white house with classical columns and peeling paint, surrounded by grass and trees, with a Western Motel sign visible in the background.

Michael Williams reached out to me last week to let me know that one of Hazlehurst’s most recognizable landmarks, the home and office of Dr. Samuel L. Martin (1876-1966), was soon to be demolished if no one stepped forward to move it before a new fast food restaurant (Taco Bell) would be built on site. I understand that the land has already been sold.

Close-up view of a weathered, abandoned building with peeling paint, showcasing brick steps leading up to a porch with columns.

As our friend Jesse Bookhardt said back in 2024: “Everybody loves Dr. Martin’s old home, but nobody seems to love it so much that they are willing to save it, so it continues to vanish bit by bit.“

Close-up of a weathered wooden wall with peeling paint, featuring a window with a stained glass top and a lace curtain, reflecting the exterior environment.

Dr. Martin was a graduate of the Atlanta School of Medicine (now Emory University), who also dabbled in politics. He was a city alderman and mayor of Hazlehurst, in addition to service in both houses of the state legislature. While serving in the senate, he promoted a bill which provided scholarships for medical students who would practice for four years in small towns who were underserved by health care.

Close-up of a weathered wooden door with peeling paint, featuring decorative fan-shaped carvings and glass panels, flanked by vintage-style lanterns.

Even in its deteriorated state, the house has been a favorite to many who have seen it and photographed it over the years. It has most recently, to my knowledge, been some sort of antique store, but it has been abandoned for quite some time.

View of weathered white columns of a building with peeling paint, overlooking a grassy area and a road with passing cars.

The architecture is quite eclectic, especially the asymmetrical front. I think the front and colonnade may be early additions to the house, which was originally built by Charles Felder Chapman (1879-1951) for his wife, Winnie Mae Roberson Chapman (1890-1931).

Abandoned two-story house with peeling white paint, broken windows, and overgrown vegetation, set against a blue sky.

The carriage house became Dr. Martin’s home office, though he was an old-fashioned country doctor and spent much of his time on the backroads of Jeff Davis County, taking care of rural patients.

An old, weathered building with a gray exterior and wooden accents, featuring broken windows and overgrown grass surrounding it.

It is always sad to share news like this, but I’ve seen so much of it over the years, I can imagine the outcome. The best possible scenario would be for someone to move and save the house, but short of that, it will soon be gone forever.

An abandoned, weathered two-story house with large white columns, peeling paint, and a grassy yard.

Henry Brigham House, 1879, Savannah

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A historic building with a yellow facade, black shutters, and a staircase at the entrance, surrounded by trees and parked vehicles.

This Second Empire home was built at a cost of $16,000 by local contractor Francis Grimball for Henry Brigham (1811-1883) in 1879. Brigham was a native of Southborough, Massachusetts, who came to Savannah in 1835 and established himself as a merchant. As his wealth increased he was associated with several banks, eventually becoming president of the Merchants National Bank. He was also a city alderman from 1860-1876.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Harper Fowlkes House, 1844, Savannah

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The Harper Fowlkes House museum in Savannah, Georgia.

The Harper Fowlkes House was built by prominent architect Charles B. Cluskey as a Greek Revival townhouse for Savannah shipping magnate Stephen Gardner on Orleans Square in 1844. Financial difficulties soon compelled Gardner to sell the house to his brother, who then sold it to Aaron Champion (1792-1880). Champion’s daughter, Maria Sophia McAlpin (1832-1890), used the house for in-town entertaining while living at the Hermitage Plantation. Her husband James McAlpin was a trustee of that property. By 1895, Maria’s son, Henry McAlpin (1860-1931) and his second wife, Isabel, were living in the house, and Isabel was responsible for the addition of a third floor and mansard roof, to accommodate servants. Alida Harper Fowlkes (1908-1985) purchased the home, which today bears her name, for $9000 in 1939. Mrs. Fowlkes, who owned the Georgian Tea Room in the Olde Pink House in the 1930s and 1940s, later became an antiques dealer and preservationist, restoring ten houses in Savannah. In her will, she left the house to the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Georgia and stipulated it never be sold. It is operated as a house museum today by the Coastal Heritage Society.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Telfair Academy, 1818, Savannah

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Statues of historical figures positioned outside a yellow building, featuring columns and a balcony, with landscaped greenery in the foreground.

The Telfair family’s Regency townhouse, which after a bequest to the city became the first art museum in the American South, was designed by architect William Jay, and stands as one of his few surviving designs.

A contemporary portrait of Alexander Telfair of Savannah, Georgia.
Alexander Telfair, portrait, public domain image via Find a Grave

Originally designed for Alexander Telfair (1789-1832), a bachelor son of early Georgia governor Edward Telfair (1735-1807), the house eventually passed to his sister Mary Telfair (1791-1875), who was known for her outstanding art collection.

Contemporary photograph of Mary Telfair of Savannah, Georgia.
Mary Telfair, contemporary photograph, public domain image via Find a Grave

Mary, who never married and was the last of the Telfairs, left the home to the Georgia Historical Society to be operated as an art museum. It was remodeled for use as a museum in 1886 by architect Detllef Lienau. It is one of three properties that now make up the Telfair Museums. Her bequests also included the Mary Telfair Women’s Hospital, now a part of St. Joseph’s Candler Hospital.

Front view of the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences building, featuring classical architecture, four statues on pedestals, and a wrought-iron fence.

In front of the building are sculptures of Phidias, Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Perhaps the most famous work inside the museum is Sylvia Shaw Judson’s Bird Girl sculpture, known for its appearance on the cover of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.


National Historic Landmark

Lavinia Low House, 1844, Savannah

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The Lavinia Low House in Savannah, Georgia.

This townhouse was built in 1844. A date plate on the house states it was built in 1854 for Lavinia Low, but I believe this may indicate the time she took possession of the property. An earlier date plate identified as the John Low House, built in 1844, and historical sources consulted confirm this.

Lavinia Amelia Myers Low (c. 1786-1865) was married to Captain John Low (c.1784-1876), presumably circa 1814-1817. They had at least four children. Low, a native of Northern Ireland, was a successful entrepreneur who served as Savannah harbormaster and a member of the board of health. He was an investor in several steamboats, including the St. Matthews and the schooner Georgia Ann, and a marine railway on Hutchinson Island. He was also involved in real estate and owned numerous houses in Savannah. Further pursuits included shares in the Savannah Insurance and Trust Company and the Central Rail Road and Banking Company of Georgia. Genealogists infer that he was not related to the better-known Andrew Low.

The marriage ended in public scandal in the 1840s due to John’s adultery. Lavinia successfully sued him for adultery and assault and battery, and also brought a lawsuit against his paramour. A judgement ordered Captain Low out of their home and Lavinia and her daughters received a sizable fortune, including four houses in Savannah. Ownership of Low’s enslaved people, including Charlotte, Dick, Bella, Sally, Jane, Kent, and Julianna, was also transferred to Lavinia. A divorce was not obtained, though John left Savannah and eventually settled in Griffin, where he remained very successful, with a net worth at his death of over $325,000 (approximately $11 million in 2026). Notably, he was buried beside Lavinia in Laurel Grove Cemetery, despite their marital discord and separation.

Front view of the Lavinia Low House, in Savannah, Georgia.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Stephen Williams House, 1834, Savannah

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A historic two-story house featuring beige siding, black shutters, and a white front porch with steps. The structure has several large windows and decorative elements, set amongst lush greenery and a parking area.

This home was built for Stephen B. Williams, a merchant in early 19th century Savannah, circa 1834. He was born circa 1805. His date of death is not known at this time, but it was after 1859. In The Georgia Catalog, John Linley suggests the Federal townhouse was originally one room deep and was enlarged and remodeled circa 1853.

A historic two-story house with a brown wooden exterior and black shutters, featuring a front porch and landscaped greenery in the foreground.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Lewis Bird House, 1838, Savannah

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Lewis Bird House in Savannah.

The Bird-Baldwin House, as this Federal style landmark is also known, is considered the oldest house in Savannah south of Liberty Street. Construction of the left side began in 1838 and the stuccoed right side was completed in 1860. The house was built for attorney Lewis Bird (1810-1838), a native of Effingham County, but he and his entire family were killed on 14 June 1838 in the explosion of the Steamship Pulaski off the coast of North Carolina and never occupied the house. Bird’s mother, Sarah Zant Bird (c. 1777-1854), sold it to his law partner, a Mr. Baldwin.

Bird-Baldwin House in Savannah's National Historic Landmark District.

The house was seized and occupied by General William T. Sherman’s staff in December 1864 during the Union Army’s occupation of Savannah.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Sorrel-Weed House, 1840, Savannah

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The Sorrel-Weed House in Savannah, Georgia.

The Old Sorrel-Weed House, also known as the Francis Sorrel House, was an early symbol for historic preservation in Savannah. It was designed and built between 1835-1840 in the Greek Revival style, with strong Regency influences, by Charles Cluskey for Mathurin Francois “Francis” Sorrel (1793-1870). Sorrel was an immigrant of French descent, born in the Dominican Republic. He was a longtime enslaver and transporter of enslaved people and a guardian of several free women of color. He married into the wealthy Moxley family of Virginia, first to Lucinda J. Moxley (1805-1827) in 1822. After her death from yellow fever, he married one of her sisters, Matilda Aminta Douglass Moxley (1806-1860). Their son, Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (1838-1901), was a Brigadier General for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Robert E. Lee was a good friend of Francis Sorrel’s, dating back to the 1830s, and was a guest in the home during late 1861 and early 1862.

The home was sold to prominent Savannah merchant Henry Davis Weed (1803-1875) in 1862 and his family retained ownership until 1914.

Savannah retailer A. J. Cohen, Sr., bought the home in 1941 and it remained in the family until the early 1990s. The first scene of Forrest Gump was filmed from the rooftop of the Sorrel-Weed House, and numerous ghost hunter programs have filmed here, as well. It is considered one of the most haunted places in Savannah. It is now a house museum.

Savannah National Historic Landmark District, National Register of Historic Places

Gable Front Cottage, Burroughs

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A small white house with blue trim and a falling roof, surrounded by lush greenery, in Burroughs, Georgia.

Burroughs was a community of formerly enslaved people in southwestern Chatham County who, in the 1870’s and 1880’s, were given the opportunity to buy the land they were living on from their former enslavers. Today, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church and New Ogeechee Missionary Baptist Church are the tangible links to that past. Simple vernacular housing, such as the example pictured here, were once common in the community, but are rapidly vanishing.

Burroughs-Jackson House, Circa 1870, Isle of Hope

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Burroughs-Jackson House in Isle of Hope, Georgia.

This house, which likely has several other names, was built circa 1870 when the property was under the trusteeship of George Noble. The Isle of Hope Historical Association does not indicate that Noble ever lived here. The first known residents were the Burroughs family, in the late 1800s. The next owner was Miss Mamie Jackson, who lived here for 36 years. Numerous owners have followed. It is one of the best loved houses in the neighborhood and is always well maintained. It was used as a set location for the 1974 movie, The Last of the Belles and the 1994 move, Camilla.

Isle of Hope Historic District, National Register of Historic Places