Georgia Natural Wonder #133 - Marietta - Antebellum (Part 2). 787

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Georgia Natural Wonder #133 - Marietta - Antebellum (Part 2)

This is our third post on Cobb County as we covered  Pigeon Mountain and Little Kennesaw Mountain in GNW #131. We covered the main Kennesaw Mountain GNW #133 (Part 1) yesterday. Today we are doing a history tangent on the great city of Marietta - State Champions of Football.



Cobb County was one of nine northwest Georgia counties founded on December 3, 1832, by the Georgia General Assembly from the large Cherokee County disputed territory—land northwest of the Chattahoochee River which the state stole from the Cherokee Nation and redistributed to settlers via lottery, following the passage of the federal Indian Removal Act. It was the 81st county in Georgia.


Indian history in History Museum.

Cobb County was named in memory of Thomas Willis Cobb of Greensboro, Georgia. He was primarily a US Senator. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced law, first in Lexington, and later in Greensboro. A noted instructor, among the students who studied law under him was US Senator William C. Dawson. In 1816 he was elected to the US House of Representatives as a Democratic-Republican and served two terms, 1817 to 1821. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1820, but won another term in the House in 1822 as a Crawford Republican, serving as Chairman of the Committee on Expenditures and holding office from March 1823 to December 1824 when he resigned to accept election to the US Senate. He was elected to fill the Senate seat left vacant when Nicholas Ware died, and served from December, 1824 until November, 1828, when he resigned.



In both houses of Congress Cobb earned a reputation as a skilled debater, especially as an advocate of slavery and against the Missouri Compromise. Having studied law under William H. Crawford, Cobb was also an avid supporter of Crawford's bid to become President. Cobb returned to Georgia after leaving the Senate and became a Judge of the Superior Court, where he served until his death. Cobb County, Georgia was named in his honor.They reportedly named Marietta in memory of Cobb's wife, Mary Moore, who had preceded her husband in death.The county seat, Marietta, was chartered in 1834. Marietta traces its roots to the Cherokee Territory in the 1830s.


Inscription Tomb reads.......

Sacred to the memory of the Honorable Thomas W. Cobb, who departed this life on Monday 1st February 1830 in the 46th year of his age. He had been at successive periods a Representative and Senator in the Congress of the United States, and was at the time of his death a judge of the Superior Courts of the State of Georgia. In his domestic circle he was fond and affectionate. As a friend he was ardent and devoted. As a man, honorable, generous, and sincere. As a statesman, independent, and inflexible. As a judge, pure, and incorruptible. Amiable in private, and useful in public life, his death was a deep affliction to his children, his friends, and his country. "An honest man's the noblest work of God."



Surveyor James Anderson created the original town plat in 1833. Within a year almost 100 people had settled there. On December 19, 1834, the Georgia legislature chartered the village of Marietta, vesting power in five commissioners elected annually.



The seat of government for suburban Cobb County, Marietta possesses a historic business area centered on a downtown square and five National Register districts, spreading in all directions from the middle of town.



The original Courthouse burned and the Square is where that one was.



When the Cobb County courthouse burned in 1848, Mayor John Glover donated the land to the city on the condition that it would stay a park or return to its heirs.


Then you had this Courthouse from 1899.


The new courthouse has moved to its existing location, across the street from the southeast corner of the park.

But we want to make this first post on Marietta cover it's antebellum history. During the Civil War, the park was used as a training ground for the militia. On the north end of the park, a well provided water to parched men and women with a trough for horses.



In the early 1900s the Atlanta trolley system was extended to Marietta and the trolley would turn around by circling the park. There was a maintenance shed across the street from the northeast corner.



At the north end of Marietta Square is a concert stage (or bandstand, the popular local name), which features live acts on a regular basis, both during lunch and in the evening. Many of these concerts are free or have a minimal charge. Clockwise from the bandstand are a children's playground, which features a replica of The General, a popular locomotive that was chased into American History by the Texas on April 12, 1863. Also in this area is a replica of the Liberty Bell, which dedicates the park to John Glover. In addition to being mayor of Marietta, Glover was a major landholder and employer, including his tannery and later a rail-yard that built locomotives.



The first mayor, John Heyward Glover, had been a South Carolina rice planter before moving to Marietta in search of a healthier climate. He opened a bank and used slave labor to operate a successful leather tannery.


Glover and his house built 1850 on Whitlock.

At the south end of the park is the gazebo, shaded by a hugh oak tree. This is a frequent site for weddings.


Vintage image gazebo.

On the west side of the park is a statue of noted Marietta orator Alexander Stephens Clay.

A young Rodney Dangerfield.

Located in the upper Piedmont, Cobb County never had many large landholdings, developing instead around small subsistence farms. The greatest wealth was in the towns. Before 1932 the thriving industrial center of Roswell was part of the county. But we are talking about Marietta. Another antebellum home was the Root House, built circa 1845 for Hannah and William Root, early settlers of Marietta. William was one of Marietta’s earliest merchants and its first druggist. Born in Philadelphia in 1815, William moved to Marietta in August 1839 to open a drug/mercantile store. A year later, he married Hannah Remer Simpson, and in 1844 the couple purchased a lot for their house on the corner of present-day Church and Lemon streets in downtown Marietta. During the 1850s, eleven members of the Root family lived in the home, along with two enslaved men and two enslaved women.


Roots and their house, a museum and garden today.

The state started acquiring right-of-way for the Western & Atlantic Railroad in 1836. Construction of the state-owned Western and Atlantic Railroad (W&A) hastened the development of the pioneer community.



In 1845 the W&A initiated regular runs from Marthasville (later renamed Atlanta) to Marietta. Within five years the rail line was completed to Chattanooga, Tennessee.



More than a thousand feet above sea level, Marietta was one of the highest points of elevation along the W&A. Because of its relatively mild climate and an abundance of natural spring water, the town became a favorite destination for aristocratic visitors from the Georgia and South Carolina coast, who flocked there during summer months to escape the stifling heat and malarial climate of the lowlands. In time some became permanent residents.



Hotels and inns sprang up around town to accommodate the tourist business. Opened next to the depot in 1855, the Fletcher House (known since the Civil War as the Kennesaw House) is the only one still standing.



Owned by the Downtown Marietta Development Authority, the Kennesaw House now houses the Marietta History Museum.



The Kennesaw House was built in 1845, making it one of Marietta's oldest buildings. Intended to be a cotton warehouse, the building was turned into the Fletcher House hotel in 1855 after it was purchased by Dix Fletcher. The Fletcher as it was called was where the Great Locomotive Chase began. While some may claim it started in Big Shanty (now Kennesaw), it began at the Fletcher House. James Andrews, a civilian working with the Union Army, made his way down to Marietta along with disguised Union soldiers in April 1862. On the night of April 11, Andrews and some of the men spent the night at the Fletcher House. A historic reproduction of what the room may have looked like has been re-created at the Marietta Museum of History, in the room that the men supposedly slept.



The men, along with their leader James Andrews boarded the train on April 12 with the rest of the passengers. The Kennesaw House was one of the only buildings in Marietta not burned to the ground during William Tecumseh Sherman's Atlanta Campaign, partly because Fletcher was a Mason, and his son-in-law was a Union spy.



The building, like many others on the Marietta square was converted to a war hospital for the confederate army. Many wounded soldiers were transported to Marietta after the battle of Chickamauga which was the bloodiest battle in Georgia.





Shops and stores around the square served the farmers of the surrounding area.



Marietta grew in population, and the legislature enacted a new charter on January 22, 1852, creating a town form of government with a mayor and council.

More Antebellum Marietta

The 1848 House was a wonderful restaurant for a long time.The house had 17 rooms and many outbuildings,



Ivy Grove still stands on Cherokee Street  built in 1843. Home to Edward Denmead, one of Marietta's pioneer settlers. He was one of the first bankers, was involved in railroad construction, and ran a flour mill on Soap Creek. A future Georgia natural Wonder.  He won 11 terms as mayor of Marietta after the Civil War.



Two more antebellum houses are located on Cherokee Street. Slayton Hall was built in 1851. It was remodeled in 1929 to add the 2nd floor.



Little and Smith was built in 1855 by David Ardis, a planter, Board member of the Georgia Military Institute, and early elder of the First Presbyterian Church. It is now Little and Smith Insurance Agency.



Kennesaw Avenue was the main street into Marietta before Cherokee Street, and several antebellum homes are found here.

Gignilliat - Cheek - Griffin House  - 1840. The first boom of frame construction and and example of the Plantation Plain style. later owners added Victorian features.



We have the Howell Sessions Touchton House. Major Archibald Howell built this in 1843. It was designed by Willis Ball, the same guy who built Bulloch Hall in Roswell. The Doric columns are among the largest on a private house in Georgia. Granite slabs for the front porch and steps came by oxcart from Stone Mountain.



In the spring of 1865, Union General Henry M. Judah had his headquarters here and provided food for the starving residents of Marietta.



I really like how this old carriage porch comes out on the side.



Across the street was the McClellan Birney House from 1850. It was the childhood home of Alice McClellan Birney, the founder of the national Parent - Teacher Association.



It was moved from it's original spot on Church Street in 1985.


PTA lady.

Not really Civil War related, because there are a slew of Victorian Era homes on this street, but the teenage home of Joanne Woodward is on Kennesaw Avenue. She remains a booster of Marietta High School and a booster of the Strand Theater.



Best Actress Oscar for Three Faces of Eve, written by an Augusta Doctor. Married Paul Newman for over 50 years.

 

Back to the antebellum homes on Kennesaw Avenue, we come to Fair Oaks. The two-story, square columned house was built by the Newton House family between 1850-1852. Kennesaw Avenue, which was once a Cherokee Indian Trail. The house sits at the foot of Kennesaw Mountain, around and on top of which the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain raged for the month of June 1864, during the War Between the States. The Southern leader was General Joseph E. Johnston. It is reported in some books that “Old Joe” Johnston headquartered for a short time in the house.



The second owner of the home named the homestead, “Fair Oaks” because of the two oak trees flanking the front steps. At the time the property was deeded to the Marietta Council of Garden Clubs in 1966, a Civil War cannon ball was visible, embedded in one of the oak trees. Sadly, the trees died and while they were being cleared away, the cannon ball was lost.


Walked up on porch to peek through the windows.

The last owners of the home were Clara and Howard Benson, together with their sons, Dr. Earl and Dr. W.H. Benson. The Bensons resided in the home from 1919-1962. On November 4, 1966, the home and 3.5 acres were deeded to the Marietta Council of Garden Clubs, Inc. by the Bensons to be used as a Garden Center.



Tranquilla, was owned by General Andrew Jackson Hansell. He served as the Representative and State Senator from Cobb County, and was Adjutant General of Georgia.



The house was damaged by federal Officers but Mrs. Hansell stayed in the house to prevent further damage.



It is hard to get a good picture of this house without trespassing, because it is behind a big wall of bushes.



The last standing antebellum house along Kennesaw Avenue is Oakton, from 1838.



Judge David Irwin of the Blue Ridge Circuit Court was the original owner. John N. Wilder bought the home in 1852 and moved his family from Savannah to escape the Yellow Fever.



It was originally a Greek Revival but has Victorian flourish now.



It was used by General William Wing Loring as his headquarters during the fighting around Kennesaw Mountain.



Just past Oakton, you find the ruins of a mill destroyed by Sherman's troops.





I surmise Sherman did this.



Searching for antebellum sites, we come out Powder Springs Road to the current Gone With The Wind Museum at the old Brumby Hall.



The first superintendent of the Georgia Military Institute, Colonel Arnoldus V. Brumby, built this lovely Greek revival-style house in 1851 with the institute adjacent to the house.



When Sherman's troops occupied Marietta in 1864, the house was used as a hospital. The institute buildings were burned as the army departed on the "March to the Sea," but the house was spared, as Sherman and Brumby were friends at West Point.



Now we will dig in to the Brumby Rocking Chair Company in our post Civil War post on Marietta. For this post we feature the original site of the Georgia Military Institute.



Historical marker and Hotel all that's there now.





This cannon in the Marietta City and Confederate Cemetery was captured from GMI cadets in Savannah fighting later in the war, and returned to Marietta by an act of Congress in 1910.



Going out Powder Springs Road I always notice the ruins of this old Civil War Church.



My pictures and an old image Internet, can't find details but it was antebellum.



OK, this is getting real detailed and we ain't even got to the Civil War yet, so I am ending this post with some famous Mary's and Marie's to choose from as our GNW gals for today.



First two were easy, Mary Moore and Marie Osmond, Google search revealed Marie Plosjö.