This crown jewel of Sandersville’s residential historic district was built for H. E. Cohen, founder and first president of the Sandersville Railroad. Judge Charles Thigpen and Governor Thomas Hardwick also lived here before it was purchased by Benjamin James Tarbutton in 1924. I believe the present appearance was part of a restoration by Atlanta architect Norman Davenport Askins.
North Harris Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Passersby often mistake this for a Confederate Monument, but instead it honors Jared Irwin, one of Washington County’s best-known politicians of his time. The monument was moved from the earlier courthouse square to its present location some time after the Civil War. Today, Irwin is barely known, but he lives on as the namesake of Irwin County, Irwinville, and Irwinton. It’s a sad fact today that he isn’t considered one of Georgia’s greatest heroes; his rescinding of the Yazoo frauds alone should place him high above most any Georgia politician of any time. Other than the namesake places, this is, to my knowledge, the only monument honoring this great Georgian. Governor Irwin is who brought me to Washington County on this trip; I was determined to find his grave and pay my quiet respects. The monument’s base, heavy with text on all four sides, describes the varied career of Irwin, albeit in the flowery, adjective-laden style of the mid-19th century.
South Side: Erected by the State of Georgia to the memory of Governor Jared Irwin, who died at his residence, Union Hill, Washington Co., on the first day of March 1818 in the 68th year of his age.
East Side: A true patriot. He entered the service of his country as Captain and soon rose to the rank of colonel in the Revolutionary War. As a soldier, he was brave and gallant. He distinguished himself a the sieges of Savannah and Augusta and in the battles of Camden, Brier Creek, Black Swamp, and several other engagements, he was at all times foremost leading his gallant band to victory. And not with his sword, and in his person only did he do service for his country. From his private means he erected a fortress in Burke County for protection of the people of the surrounding districts.His pure devotion to the cause of liberty marked him in the eyes of the enemy, and on more than one occasion was he plundered of his property, and his premises reduced to ashes. At the close of the War of the Revolution, with the rank of General, he was actively engaged in the service of the state, in repelling the attacks and invasions of the hostile Indians; and here, again, was his liberality called into activity. He, at his own expense, built a fort at White Bluff, for the security and protection of the frontier inhabitants against the savage attacks of the merciless foes.
A band bearing Irwin’s initials, surrounds the obelisk.
North Side: General Irwin was one of the convention which met at Augusta in 1788, and ratified the constitution of the United States. He was a member of the convention in 1789, which formed the constitution of the State of Georgia. In 1798, he was president of the convention which revised the constitution of the State of Georgia. He rendered distinguished to his country as commissioner, in concluding several treaties with the Indians. At the close of the war of Independence he was a member of the first legislature under our present form of government; a position which occupied for several years. He was elected president of the senate frequently, at various periods from 1790 to the time of his death. He was governor of Georgia from January 17, 1796, to the 11th of January, 1798, and again from the 23rd of September, 1806, to the 7th of November, 1809. His administration was distinguished for his justice and impartiality; and his was the honor, after several years’ labor in the behalf, of signing the act rescinding the Yazoo Act.
West Side: In his private relations Governor Irwin was beloved by all who knew him. The spotless purity of his character, his benign and affable disposition, his widespread benevolence and hospitality, made him the object of general affection. To the poor and distressed he was ever a benefactor and friend. In every position of public life, as a soldier, a statesman, and a patriot, the public good was the object and the end of his ambition; and his death was lamented as a national calamity. But his memory will ever be embalmed in the hearts of his countrymen; and the historian will award him a brilliant page in the records of the country. Peace to his ashes! Honor to his name.
The monument is quite difficult to photograph. I’ll work on a better image next time I’m in Sandersville. I’m grateful to Ray South Irwin for historical background.
This grand country home is surrounded by ancient cedar trees, many of which are showing their age and the scars of wind and weather. Samuel Bennett Tarver, father of Charlotte Tarver and Judge Andrew Eldred Tarver owned a grist mill on the property which is now Lewis’s Lake and where The Cedars is located. Charlotte got the property as a wedding gift when she married William Gainer Salter. The house was built between 1863-64 but apparently not completed until the 1890s. Sherman’s men went past the house, which was still under construction and it was not burned but it has been said that slaves were freed, decimating the work force necessary for the construction to be completed. I’m using the 1864 date for its significance in relation to the Civil War and the family’s history. It has been in the Salter family for many years.
PLEASE NOTE that this is private property and is not for sale. Due to vandalism and looting in the past, the property is monitored. I have shared this with the owner’s permission.
This illustration, depicting Union troop movements around the site of The Cedars, is from the 7 January 1865 Harper’s Weekly.
Monticello’s oldest documented house, Reese Hall was originally built in Savannah but was disassembled there and moved to Monticello around 1820. Its most prominent owner was Dr. David Addison Reese (3 March 1794-16 December 1871) who received his medical degree from Jefferson College in Philadelphia. He was the son of a Revolutionary soldier and the grandson of a signer of the now-debunked Mecklenberg Declaration of Independence. After briefly working in Elberton he moved to Monticello and established a thriving practice. Besides serving for a number of years as Jasper County’s state senator, and 25 years as a Trustee of the University of Georgia, he was also appointed a Commissioner of Cherokee relations by President Andrew Jackson in 1831. Politically a Whig, he succeeded Alexander H. Stephens in Congress in 1853. He left Georgia for Russell County, Alabama, during the Civil War and died there at the age of 78.
Judy Hunsucker restored Reese Hall circa 2015.
Monticello Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Placed by the Sergeant Jasper of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1928, this bronze tablet honors Hillsboro’s favorite son, Benjamin Harvey Hill. It reads: In Honor of Benjamin Harvey Hill – Georgia’s Illustrious Son – Born Near Hillsboro Jasper County September 14, 1823 – Died in Atlanta August 16, 1882 – A Matchless Orator – Renowned Jurist – Courageous Statesman
Surrounded by a stacked granite wall on expansive grounds, this is one of the most imposing properties in Lexington. Photographs of the gardens were included in the landmark Garden History of Georgia (1933). Though the one-story portico seen here is now the entrance, it was once the rear of the house. Otherwise, the house is in relatively original form. Amazingly, another of Upson’s Georgia homes survives largely intact in Athens, now used as bank offices.
Connecticut native Stephen Upson (1785-24 August 1824), who was called the “wisest man in Georgia” during his lifetime, came to Lexington via Virginia to study law under William Harris Crawford. He married Hannah Cummins after establishing a practice in Lexington and was a member of the Georgia legislature from 1820 until his death. He also served as the head of the Georgia bar. Shortly after his death, the legislature created and named Upson County in his memory.
Paul D. Hicks writes: Ben Dooley is correct that it was his son, Stephen (Cummins) Upson, who owned the “Upson” House in Athens. SCU was born in Lexington just months before the death of SU. His mother remarried and he lived many years in New York State. In 1885, he returned to GA and bought the Athens house, which had been built in 1847 for Dr. Marcus Franklin. Francis Upson, the older son of SU, returned to Lexington after graduating from Yale Law School in 1835, was a judge for many years, and died there in 1894. It is possible he lived in the SU house.
Lexington Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
William Harris Crawford (24 February 1772-15 September 1834) was the best known Georgia politician in the early 19th century, though he’s all but forgotten today. Born to a poor farmer in Virginia, he moved to Georgia at the age of 14, and soon began to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1799. Through his appointment to write a digest of Georgia laws, he came to politics. He was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1803 and allied himself with U. S. Senator James Jackson, the leading opponent of the rampant land speculation that had earlier culminated in the infamous Yazoo Fraud.
Jackson had been a governor of Georgia and a hero of the American Revolution. He was also a bitter rival of Elijah Clarke. Crawford killed Peter Lawrence Van Allen, one of Clarke’s allies, in a duel in 1802. Then Clarke’s son John (Clark) injured Crawford in another duel. Seeking to end the rivalry, John Clark challenged him to yet another meeting thereafter, but Crawford refused. This infuriated Clark, who whipped a Crawford ally, Judge Charles Tait, in Milledgeville.
Crawford served in the United States Senate from 1807 to 1813. In 1813, he was offered a position as Secretary of War by President James Madison, but turned it down and served two years as Ambassador to France. It was offered to him again in 1815, and he accepted. He served from 1815 to 1816 when he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by Madison. He served under President Madison and under President James Monroe from 1816 to 1825. He made an unsuccessful bid for President in 1824. In 1825, he was again offered the position of Secretary of Treasury by President John Quincy Adams, but refused due to ailing health. Upon his return to Oglethorpe County he was appointed a judge in Georgia’s Northern Superior Court Circuit. He died on the circuit at Elberton in 1834 and was buried in the Crawford family cemetery near present-day Crawford.
Portrait of William Harris Crawford by John Wesley Jarvis
Theophilus Jackson Smith (17 November 1819-14 October 1881) built this plantation house in in 1848 and named it Glen Mary for his wife, Mary Gonder Smith. Glen Mary means “Mary’s Valley” in Scottish. Colonel Smith was a leading planter of Hancock County and served in the Georgia legislature and the Fifteenth Georgia Regiment during the Civil War. Due to financial losses one the eve of the war, Smith sold the plantation to General Ethan Allen Hitchcock (18 May 1798-5 August 1870). Hitchcock was the Vermont-born grandson of Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen and served in the Seminole Wars and as Winfield Scott’s Inspector General during the Mexican War. Albany-born architect Edward Vason Jones was responsible for restorations done to the home in the 1960s. Today, this Georgia gem is owned by Preservation America Trust.
National Register of Historic Places
Meadow Garden was the last home of George Walton, one of the youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence. Walton served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, a Colonel in the First Georgia Militia, Governor of Georgia (1779-80 & 1789-90), U. S. Congressman, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and United States Senator.
Thanks to the efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who still maintain the site today this important vestige of our early history was saved from demolition in 1901. It is Georgia’s oldest house museum and one of the top attractions in Augusta.
National Historic Landmark
Perhaps the most famous house in Augusta, the Nicholas Ware House was given its pejorative nickname for its excessive construction costs. Ware was an early Augusta mayor and United States Senator. The structure is now home to the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art.
National Register of Historic Places