Georgia Natural Wonder #100 – Athens / Clarke County (Part 2) - Antebellum 1,275

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Georgia Natural Wonder #100 – Athens / Clarke County (Part 2) Antebellum

Yesterday we came to Athens for the Natural Wonder of the North Fork of the Oconee River and the Arboretum along with the Founders Garden on the North Campus of the University of Georgia. We posted extensively on the buildings and history of North Campus, we continue to tangent on the Classic City of Athens. Just below the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near the confluence of the North and Middle Oconee Rivers, lies the city of Athens. Among the rolling red clay hills of North Georgia, a city and a university grew into a center of culture and wealth, nurturing individuals and ideas that have commanded national attention.



Clarke County, in northeast Georgia, is the state's twenty-sixth county. The county was named for Elijah Clarke, who came to Georgia from North Carolina in 1774 to fight in Georgia's battles with the Cherokee and Creek tribes. Clarke was instrumental in securing treaties with the Creeks in 1782 and the Cherokees in 1792, which temporarily halted hostilities between settlers of European descent and the indigenous Native American populations.


Clarke

The boundaries of Clarke County have changed several times over the years. Created by the state legislature in 1801 from part of Jackson County, Clarke acquired more land in 1807 from neighboring Greene County. But it lost territory with the creation of Madison County in 1811 and Oglethorpe County in 1813, and lost land again to Madison in 1813 and 1829. In 1875 it lost still more territory when Oconee County was created from its western region, leaving Clarke County, with 121 square miles, the geographically smallest of Georgia's counties.  In 1991, after a vote the preceding year, the original City of Athens abandoned its charter to form a unified government with Clarke County, referred to jointly as Athens–Clarke County.

History

Athens – Clarke County was originally inhabited by members of the Cherokee and Creek Indian nations, but the first white settlers arrived very soon after the end of the American Revolution (1775-83). Later, to entice new settlers to the area, the state offered 1,000 acres per family for a nominal sum. This opportunity drew a significant number of people of Scots-Irish descent from North Carolina and South Carolina.


In nearby Lincolnton, Clarke’s cabin.

In January 1785, the Georgia General Assembly granted a charter creating the University of Georgia as the country’s first state-supported university. The distinction of first in that case didn’t mean much. By the time UGA was thought up, the colonies and the young United States already had plenty of colleges and universities. Harvard was founded in 1636, William & Mary in 1693, UPenn in 1740. Even the University of North Carolina, chartered in 1789, built an actual campus before UGA did. That’s because the founders of UGA took their sweet time getting underway. It was 1801 before a committee of the UGA Board of Trustees finally selected a site for the campus: 633 acres atop a hill in what was then Jackson County, overlooking the North Oconee River and the small trading settlement of Cedar Shoals. The hill was notable for a perennial spring that flowed from the ground near the top. At least three hundred feet above the level of the river, in the midst of an extensive bed of rocks, issues a copious spring of excellent water; and in its meanderings, several others are discovered.



John Milledge, one of the committeemen, and a friend and follower of Thomas Jefferson, was particularly pleased with the hill and especially with the fine spring of water flowing out of the side. One of the trustees and later governor of Georgia, he bought 633 acres from Daniel Easley and donated it to the university. UGA President Josiah Meigs found out that the campus spring would flow 9,000 gallons of sparkling water in twenty-four hours in May or only 7,700 gallons in January. In 1801, the 633-acre site was remote woodland. Today, that land is underneath the north end of the UGA campus and the considerable pavement of downtown Athens. Yet, surprisingly, one remnant of the spring remains. You’ll find it in an out-of-the-way warehouse district on (what else?) Spring Street, where a railroad siding ends in a culvert. The culvert is tended, but not marked. It houses a small seep, and the spot is lush with grasses and wildflowers that grow year-round, even in the severest drought.



After Committeeman Milledge donated the land, construction of the campus began immediately. The first buildings were made of logs, and, as trees were felled, the cleared lots were sold to raise money for additional construction. By the time the first class graduated in 1804, a small civilian settlement had grown up next to the campus. Milledge named the settlement Athens after the renowned center of arts and learning and home to the Platonic Academy of Plato and Aristotle in Greece.



Athens officially became a town in December 1806 with a government made up of a three-member commission. The university and town continued to grow with cotton mills fueling the industrial and commercial development. Athens became known as the "Manchester of the South" after the city in England known for its mills.


Mills are now lofts.

In 1833 a group of Athens businessmen led by James Camak, tired of their wagons getting stuck in the mud, built one of Georgia's first railroads, the Georgia, connecting Athens to Augusta by 1841, and to Marthasville (now Atlanta) by 1845. Camak House, at 279 Meigs Street, Athens, Georgia, was built in about 1834 by James Camak and featured in Georgia's early railroad history.  Built atop a hill, Camak House was the first dwelling constructed on Prince Avenue; Meigs Street was added later, cutting off a portion of the original property. The architecture is Federal style, "relatively unusual in Athens", with locally produced ironwork in the front. The fanlight of the central doorway and the white-washed brick construction are typical elements of the style. The house has two stories, with a "four-over-four room, central hall plan" – a style "based on the standard Greek Revival floor plan" with a "raised basement, a low-hipped roof, and two-story pilasters". The basement originally housed slave quarters and the kitchen; the hazard of fire made it unusual for houses of the period to include a kitchen, but because of Camak House's brick construction the risk was thought to be low.





The floors were constructed using "knot-free heart-pine", and solid mahogany was used for the railing of the stairwell. Details include silver-plated doorknobs, "hand-forged locks and latches", and "a simple but visually striking Greek key pattern" for moldings and trim. Camak House was built with closets – a very unusual feature for the time. Camak House was the location for a meeting to organize what became "the first successful railroad company in Georgia and only the third such company in the United States". James Camak was named president of the company, and later served as the first president of Georgia Railroad Bank.



As fine federal homes began to appear around the new campus, the role of Athens as the intellectual center of Georgia became increasingly evident: the cultured social life surrounding the college attracted prominent families of wealth and national stature. I am going to tangent on a tour of Antebellum Homes in Athens.  The Welcome center has a link that will provide you with driving tours of town. This is the Phinizy-Hunnicutt House - 1855



These are most of the pre civil war homes along Milledge Avenue. Here is the Hamilton House – 1858.



The iron had been ordered from England and reached Philadelphia in 1861, just in time to make the last train headed to the South before the war ended Confederacy-bound traffic.

A.P. Dearing House – 1856



Milledge Avenue opened up for settlement the year before A.P. Dearing built this house of red bricks that were made in the Athens area. The outer walls are 16 inches thick. The columns are covered with plaster and fluted. The house is considered one of the most perfect examples of Greek Revival architecture in America. It has been added to the National Register of Historic Places and Historic American Buildings Survey and pictured in "National Geographic." The discerning eye, however, will note that the Doric columns are grouped in pairs in contrast to the equidistant spacing traditionally employed in Greek Revival architecture.

Dearing –Wilkins House – 1865




Alpha Phi Sorority now.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Homes, this house is associated with an iron dog that graces the front lawn on special occasions. The dog appears in the movie Gone With the Wind when Bonnie Blue is jumping the hedge and falls from the horse.

Thomas-Carithers House- 1896



This may not be antebellum but it has an interesting history and is dubbed the "Wedding Cake House" because of its ornate classic columns. The house is said to be haunted by the ghost of Susie Thomas, who hung herself in an upstairs bedroom after her fiancé left her at the altar. The sisters of Alpha Gamma Delta sorority, residents of the home since 1939, say that everyone who lives in the room where the girl died will be engaged before they leave UGA

Back to History

Industry developed rapidly; Athens' economy during the first half of the nineteenth century was based primarily upon cotton, brick works, textile mills, and railroad transportation.



In the 1830s and 1840s, transportation developments and the growing influence of the University of Georgia made Athens one of the state's most important cities as the antebellum era neared the height of its development. The visitor Center shows us more antebellum homes up Dearing Street.

Pink Chimneys - 1820s



Pink Chimneys is one of the last remaining houses to be built during the 1820s. This house originally sat on the site where the Ware-Lyndon House is today, and many of the old floorboards retain Roman numerals at their ends, designating their placement for reassembly after the move.

Chase-Deupree-Yancey-Herbert House - 1860

243 Dearing Street, someone go by and take a picture for us.

An architectural treasure, the Chase-Deupree-Yancey-Herbert house is a textbook example of classic Italianate style.

Young Y.G. Harris House - 1834-39



Bond House - 1893



This turreted house is not antebellum but was completed in 1893, and is an example of Late Victorian Eclecticism. My wife’s cousin lives here.

Meeker-Pope-Barrow House - 1859



This home features one of only two antebellum gardens remaining in Athens. (The other is located at the University of Georgia President’s House).

Cobb-Jackson-Ward-Erwin House - 1820s


Can’t find image of house or yard but it is right across from tree that owns itself.

Being the earliest home built in the Dearing Street District, this home began as a cottage facing Finley Street. After fire destroyed most of the home in 1838, the home was turned to face Dearing Street and greatly enlarged. The earliest remaining part of the home includes the Federal fan-lighted side door and adjacent small window. Specimen plantings from the first botanical garden in the South continue to flourish in the side yard, including huge magnolias and a large ginkgo.

The "Tree That Owns Itself," which is now an offspring of the original tree



The Tree That Owns Itself At the corner of Dearing and Finley streets stands a large white oak inside a granite and chain barricade. The Tree That Owns Itself gave such joy to Colonel William H. Jackson, who owned the land on which it stood, that he wanted it to be protected forever. Upon his death, he willed to the tree all the land within eight feet of its trunk. The deed was never tested in the courts, as Athenians accepted the tree’s title and took special care of it. George Foster Peabody, for whom the Peabody Award is named, for example, put up the enclosure around the tree and made improvements on the land. The tree currently growing on the site, however, is not the original! A windstorm on October 9, 1942, toppled Jackson’s tree, but the Junior Ladies’ Garden Club planted a young sapling from one of the original’s acorns at the site on the fourth anniversary of the storm.



Harking back to antebellum time you have the cobblestone Finley Street right there coming back down hill to Broad.


Damn is this the best image I can get of that street? Will be in Athens soon, will get better images this post.

The university essentially created a chain reaction of growth in the community which developed on its doorstep. The Welcome Center shows several antebellum homes on its Cobbham, Prince Avenue, and Downtown area tours. Athens is just a time capsule of an era Gone With The Wind.

T.R.R. Cobb House, c. 1829, 175 Hill Street



With its two octagonal wings and distinctive salmon color, this grand home was moved to this site in 2004. Originally sited at 194 Prince Avenue, it was moved to Stone Mountain Park in 1985. Returned in 2005 by Watson-Brown Foundation, today it is restored as a historic house museum open to the public. T.R.R. Cobb, a former Confederate general founded the UGA Law School and Lucy Cobb Institute, named for his daughter, and authored the slave code of the Confederate Constitution.

Howell Cobb House, c. 1835, 698 N. Pope Street



Look north up Pope Street to view the Howell Cobb House, the first residence built by Howell Cobb. Owned by Emmanuel Episcopal Church for many years, this Greek Revival house has been restored by Chris Peterson as a private home.

University of Georgia President’s House, c. 1857



Built by John and Martha Cobb Jackson Grant, this Greek revival features fourteen Corinthian columns encompassing the front and sides of the house, while Doric columns grace the rear porch overlooking a nine-acre garden. The University acquired the property in 1949 and furnished the ground floor with antiques and works of art such as a Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington.

Taylor-Grady House, c. 1844,



The wealthy cotton merchant Robert Taylor built this Greek revival as a summer house, moved here while his sons attended UGA and then sold it to the father of Henry W. Grady in 1863. Grady only lived here while attending the University, but was editor of the Atlanta Constitution and a major figure in the recovery of the South after the Civil War. Owned and maintained by Athens-Clarke County since 1966, Junior League of Athens operates it as a house museum and special event venue.

Cobb-Bucknell-Leathers House, c. 1849, 425 Hill Street


Another house I need photos of. Coeds have come a long way from back in the day.

Howell and Mary Ann Lamar Cobb lived here while he served as Governor of Georgia, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Secretary of the Treasury under Buchanan, and a General in the Confederate Army. The Articles of Confederation were read from the front balcony to a crowd below in 1861, and Cobb was arrested by federal troops on the front porch. A monumental Doric portico and delicate iron railings grace the front of this home, which originally occupied the entire block before being moved to the corner in 1890.

Moss Side, 1838. - 479 Cobb Street.


Damn I have a lot of photos to get for this post.

Hiram Hayes built what is probably the oldest home in Cobbham. The residence has been owned by the Moss family since 1861. R. L. Moss was a member of Howell Cobb’s staff during the Civil War. When his wife heard he was wounded in Alabama, she drove a wagon there to bring him home. His daughter Julie established Grove School on the property. The feats of her brother, Dr. William Lorenzo Moss, are honored on the State Historical Marker. Moss descendants still own the block

Church-Waddel-Brumby House c.1820 - 280 - East Dougherty Street



This Federal Period house was built in 1820 for Alonzo Church who later became president of the University of Georgia. The Church-Waddel-Brumby House also has the distinction of being the oldest surviving residence in Athens.

Tinsley-Stern House, c.1830 - 193 East Hancock Avenue

When James Tinsley built this Federal style home, he located it in Athens’ first residential neighborhood. The second oldest residence in Athens, this building has been used for a variety of purposes, including a boardinghouse, a funeral home, a library, and the District Attorney’s office.

Ware-Lyndon House, c.1845 - 293 Hoyt Street



This simple house of sturdy brick construction, reflecting the Italianate mode, was built in the 1840s by Dr. Edward R. Ware and remodeled by Dr. Edward Smith Lyndon, an Athens’ druggist, in 1880. Located on a prominent hill overlooking Downtown Athens and nearby Oconee River, it is the only residence remaining on its original site in Lickskillet, an early residential section of Athens. The house is now restored to its original splendor as part of the Lyndon House Arts Center.

First Presbyterian Church, c.1855 - 185 East Hancock Street



Ross Crane constructed this church in 1855 at a cost of $10,000 for a congregation which had been organized in 1820. The Church was remodeled in 1902, and recent additions have been made, but its early appearance has been retained. Interior details include a pulpit of Italian marble and pine pews trimmed in hand-hewn walnut from Whitehall Plantation. They were designed to accommodate families of different sizes, and many of the original nameplates are still on the pews.

Double-Barreled Cannon, 1863 Lawn of City Hall, College and Hancock Streets



Believed to be the only double-barreled cannon in the world, this relic of the War Between the States proved to be rather impractical because its barrels were not synchronized and the cannon balls, which were chained together, never got off to the same start when fired. The cannon now faces due north, just in case.

Old Presbyterian Manse, 1841 - 185 North Hull Street



One of the oldest houses in Athens, this house sits on its original lot and was built as a downtown home for Albon Chase, the second mayor of Athens and owner of Athens’ first paper mill. The Greek Revival house with elements of English Regency style is one of the last remaining of its style in Athens. The interior is original, as is the building behind the house, which served as the cookhouse and slave quarters.

Even more antebellum homes in Athens.


The Joseph Henry Lumpkin House, built in 1842, is a historic Greek Revival house located on 248 Prince Avenue in Athens, Georgia.

Lumpkin House was built as a private home in 1844 by Wilson Lumpkin, who was a U.S. Congressman from Georgia (1815-1817 and 1827-1831), governor of Georgia (1831-1835), and U.S. Senator from Georgia (1837-1841). After Lumpkin's retirement, he wanted a larger home on his 736-acre tract south of Athens, and so this house was built. The stonemason was Edward Lilly, who came from Ireland.



In 1907 the Lumpkin family deeded the house and its land to the University of Georgia, and that land is now much of the University's South Campus. One condition of the family's bequest was that the land would revert to the Lumpkin family if the University destroyed or moved the house. That's why Lumpkin House now sits as a tiny and antiquated anomaly amidst behemoths like Conner Hall. Lumpkin House is also an anomaly because it is built of Athens Gneiss, the metamorphic bedrock that underlies Clarke County and the surrounding area in the Piedmont of central northeast Georgia. The image below shows the irregular chunks of rock in the walls of Lumpkin House, demonstrating why the gneiss is not a popular building stone. In its fresh state, it is almost white (as seen in the upper part of the image), but it weathers to an unattractive brown, so that its aesthetic properties are limited too. But by god it is going to stay there.



The War Between the States interrupted antebellum prosperity. Mercantile production was halted, and the local citizenry suffered the loss of more than 300 men and boys who were killed during the war.


Marching past the Confederate Memorial downtown.

During the American Civil War, Athens became a significant supply center when the New Orleans armory was relocated there to what is now called the Chicopee building. I touched a little on this spot in Post 1 on Athens.


Cook and Brothers.

Fortifications can still be found along parts of the North Oconee River between College and Oconee St.


Farmers looks down on North Oconee.

In addition, Athens played a small part in the ill-fated Stoneman's Raid when a skirmish was fought on a site overlooking the Middle Oconee River near what is now the old Macon Highway. The myths arising from Athens brief contact with the Yankee Invader have acquired a life of their own & many Athenians believe that Athens was General Sherman’s number one target when the Yankees invaded Georgia. A recent Athens Banner-Herald editorial on the anniversary of this important battle reported as a matter of historical fact that General Stoneman, USA had received orders from General Sherman, USA to burn Athens, Georgia during a battle with General Wheeler, CSA. According to the Athens Banner-Herald General Stoneman, USA realizing the importance of Athens to the Confederate cause had immediately detached two brigades engaged in desperate battle with General Joe Wheeler’s, CSA forces and ordered them to proceed to Athens at a gallop & reduce Athens to ashes. I have every confidence that Athens was so important to the Confederate Cause that evidence will soon be uncovered that the Orders to Burn Athens came down from Lincoln himself on Tablets of Stone.


Stoneman

The Athens Banner-Herald’s front page story , July 7, 1995, on the events of August 2, 1864, contains, as usual, several significant historical errors of fact. I have previously informed this paper, July 25, 1994, of the less popular skirmish that occurred on the evening of August 2, 1864, at Clarke’s Crossing. The details of this skirmish are related in a letter from Mrs. Howell Cobb to General Howell Cobb, dated August 3, 1864. This information was published in the August 3. 1994, Athens Banner-Herald. I quote from Mrs. Cobb’s letter, “A Cavalry company was improvised from 30 of Col. Young’s some from the 16 Ga. Cavalry and the young men of Athens. Howell & Hugh Harris went with the Cavalry. Howell rode “Easter” leaving “Nellie” to rest. They left at sunset and went out on Mr. Mitchell’s road.


Cobb

But I must tell you first — the Yankees, about 80 it is supposed came upon our breastworks. Taylor’s company then out skirmishing the Yankees the same and a few shots were exchanged a shot from one of Lumpkins’ Battery were fired at a few Yankees which sent the whole “gang” a scampering leaving behind guns, clothes, new shoes,....” Now this was the double barrel cannon. It may have misfired but it did sound two percussions and landed both cannon balls for effect. The Union troops turned back.The United Stated troops that attempted to cross the Oconee on August 2, 1864, were not under orders from General Stoneman to destroy any property in Athens. They were a disorganized rabble, fleeing for the safety of United States lines in Marietta, Georgia, randomly pillaging and burning enroute.  I quote from General Stoneman’s report dated August 6, 1864:  “Without entering now into particulars, we were whipped, and this principally on account of the bad conduct of the Kentucky brigade in the attack during the morning and in fact throughout the day. In the afternoon the enemy attacked us, when Capron’s brigade gave way at once and was followed by Adams’ (Kentucky) brigade leaving me with Biddle’s (Indiana) brigade and the section of artillery to contend against the whole force of the enemy and cover the retreat of the remainder of my force.”


Trenches in Georgia. Now there are suppose to be some earthworks and preservationist are trying to make a park of this Athens battlefield.

The Colonels, on the other hand, contend that Stoneman had passed an order that all was lost and it was every man for himself. In any event the two Colonel’s precipitously departed the field of Honour sans leave, much less orders, at the first sound of Southern fire with their commands close on their heels. General Stoneman’s only orders were to cut the Macon road. General Stoneman requested and received permission to proceed to Macon and Andersonville and release United States prisoners of war being held there after fulfilling his orders to break the Macon road. The “Force” that attempted to cross the Oconee consisted of Adams’ brigade (550 men), Capron’s brigade (800 men) and Matson’s Sixth Indiana from Biddle’s brigade (350 men). The redoubtable Colonel Horace Capron immediately went into reserve two miles to the rear. These figures are as of July 30, 1864, prior to attrition from hostile Southern Riflemen.Colonel Adams returned to Marietta with 490 men. Colonel Capron reported his command at 300 on the 31 of July. Colonel Capron was joined by Major Buck with seventy men of the Eight Michigan Cavalry and Major Davidson, with his detachment on August 1, 1864. So we have at least 900 men plus Matson’s Sixth Indiana.


So it may not have fired right, but the double barrel cannon still saved Athens.

Lieut. Col. Robert W. Smith, Assistant Inspector-General, USA, was with the United States forces before Athens on August 2, 1864, and submitted a report to General Sherman on August 7, 1864. Lieut. Col Smith estimated the number as being between 1,200 and 1,300. This figure is reasonable as it allows for a 25% attrition rate, over a three day period, for men skittish of Southern gunpowder. Again, all that was necessary to hasten these intrepid warriors on their way was another whiff of Southern Gunpowder. The ingredients of Southern Gunpowder is another story for another day. Colonel Capron could not keep up with the main body and was attacked by Confederate Cavalry on August 3rd at Jug Tavern in Winder. Colonel Capron abandoned his men, escaped through the woods and staggered into Marietta on August 8, 1864, afoot. The men stampeded (Capron’s words) and many were drowned when the bridge over the Mulberry River collapsed precipitating them into the river. The ones that scattered into the woods were tracked down and slaughtered. Colonel Capron’s losses, killed, wounded and missing, amounted to 572 men of the original 800. This does not include losses of the First Ohio Squadron, which was part of Capron’s brigade of 800 men, as I have do not have official causality figures for this unit. Colonel Capron was promptly given another command.


These guys didn’t do well in Athens and even worse in Winder.

Athens was spared the fate of many of Georgia's cities; however, remaining virtually intact after hostilities had ended: Sherman's infamous army did not march through the area. OK, we haven’t even got past the Civil War in our tangent on Athens.  We will venture forth tomorrow as so much history still to come. Our GNW wonder gals today. 


Dance Dawgs on the Road.