1856 Beauty in Acworth - The Lemon House
As we often do on Sunday afternoons, we went for a drive today and visited Acworth, GA. Driving around the various roads in the historical area, we stumbled on this beauty.
The sign out front reads "James Lemon Antebellum Home ca. 1856."
Immediately I was taken by it. I had to find out more.
A few things I learned:
James and Mary Davenport Lemon purchased 800 acres of land and built a small frame house. Just before his marriage, their son, James Lile Lemon, expanded the house to a Carolina style, modified Plantation Plain house.
After the Civil War in 1890 the two story porch was replaced with with neoclassical Doric Columns we see today.
Why didn't this house get burned when Acworth was burned? Well, for 5 days in June 1864, Maj Gen William T Sherman took over the homestead and stayed during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in June of 1864. Some sources say that after he left, it was used as a hospital.
Captain James Lile Lemon has a fascinating story of his time in the Civil War. You can read about him here and here. His war letters have been published in a book, Feed them the steel! Being the Wartime Recollections of Capt James Lile Lemon, Co A, 18th Georgia Infantry CSA
I could only find one picture of the inside of the house. From my Cobb County Images of America book by Rebecca Nash Paden and Joe McTyre.
The outside has some interesting outbuildings, beautiful but a bit overgrown gardens, and of all things, a small cemetery. Actually my husband spotted it first and he drove up to where it is located. I could hear him laugh as I was jumping out of the care before he came to a full stop -- iPhone in hand to snap pictures.
I have no idea who is buried here since there are no names but there is one grave inside a rusty wrought iron fence with an old CSA marker.
My heart was racing -- this could be the family graveyard. But no, James Lile Lemon and his parents are buried in Mars Hill Cemetery.
A little closer to the street in the bushes is a definite headstone. I thought I could feel a date of 1909 but can't say that for sure. This one is so worn it needs the foil treatment to try to read the letters.
The sign out front reads "James Lemon Antebellum Home ca. 1856."
Immediately I was taken by it. I had to find out more.
A few things I learned:
James and Mary Davenport Lemon purchased 800 acres of land and built a small frame house. Just before his marriage, their son, James Lile Lemon, expanded the house to a Carolina style, modified Plantation Plain house.
After the Civil War in 1890 the two story porch was replaced with with neoclassical Doric Columns we see today.
Why didn't this house get burned when Acworth was burned? Well, for 5 days in June 1864, Maj Gen William T Sherman took over the homestead and stayed during the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in June of 1864. Some sources say that after he left, it was used as a hospital.
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| Capt.,Co.A,18th Ga.Inf.Regt.-CSA. One of the "Immortal 600". |
by Mark Lemon.
Mark is a descendant and his parents are the current owners of the Lemon house. He is also a renowned artist and historian. I did read that the family has opened the house to tours in the past to help with restorations. Believe me, if they do it again, I will be first in line.
I could only find one picture of the inside of the house. From my Cobb County Images of America book by Rebecca Nash Paden and Joe McTyre.
The outside has some interesting outbuildings, beautiful but a bit overgrown gardens, and of all things, a small cemetery. Actually my husband spotted it first and he drove up to where it is located. I could hear him laugh as I was jumping out of the care before he came to a full stop -- iPhone in hand to snap pictures.
This thrilled me no end.
An old cemetery on the grounds of an 1856 house!!!
I have no idea who is buried here since there are no names but there is one grave inside a rusty wrought iron fence with an old CSA marker.
A little closer to the street in the bushes is a definite headstone. I thought I could feel a date of 1909 but can't say that for sure. This one is so worn it needs the foil treatment to try to read the letters.
It is old because it is just a simple flat stone stuck directly in the ground. (Somehow these old stones seems to withstand time better than the fancier stones.)
Who is the person? My imagination has run wild and decided that this is James Lile Lemon and the fancy headstone in Mars Hill is just a cenotaph.
Anyway, a mystery for me to solve.
My grandmother, Katherine Lemon Orr, grew up here. I remember going there during Christmas. This is quite a sense of pride for me. My grandmother was such a southern lady!
ReplyDeleteLinda
DeleteThank you for reading and for sharing. Here is a tidbit form a cousin of mine:
"James Lemon from Acworth went to war for Confederacy and was captured and put in a northern prison camp. His young wife had a small baby when Sherman commandeered the yellow family house pictured above. She fed Sherman and his staff and took care of their needs. When Sherman left, he ordered his troops to burn the house , along with other homes in the town. A first lieutenant took pity on the young wife and spared the house. James came back home after the war was over and the little baby was his first born, Smith Lemon, who eventually owned the bank in town and was good friends with our great grandfather, JH Johnston. He named his first son, Smith Lemon Johnston, after his friend."
Thank you for sharing. I have recently moved to Arizona and my husband and I straighten out people about the civil war. I truly love my heritage.❤❤❤
DeletePat, the house was saved from burning by the timely intervention of union Major James Connelly, who ordered the fires put out which soldiers had just started. Also, Smith Lemon was not James Lemon's son, but his older brothet. Smith founded the S. Lemon Banking Company in 1853.
DeleteMy maiden name is Lemon. My father was also a James. James Edward Lemon and his father was Robert Franklin Lemon. I traced my family roots back to Smith Lemon and on and on back to Chester SC and ultimately to Lemant, Ireland through ancestry. james Lyle actually had the same dark hair and widow's peak that my father had. Genealogy is fun.
DeleteThis is so cool! I am friends with Mark. Thanks so much for publishing this story.
ReplyDeleteGrace Lemon Nichols was my grandmother, Hilton Nichols my grandfather and lived in the house from the time they were married. My grandfather died in 1963, my grandmother and my Aunt Sarah died when the house partially burned in 1975. At that point the estate sold the house to the other side of the family, the Lemon side. My mother Jean Nichols Pennington had a twin brother John Nichols, her oldest brother Hilton (Git) Nichols was a well known doctor in Canton, Ga, her sister Julia Nichols moved to Garland, Texas with her husband John Holman
ReplyDeleteMy great great grandfather, Samuel Robertson (1802-1885) was a city commissioner when Acworth was formed in 1860. There is a group picture of Samuel, Stephen H. Stokes, C. Awtry, Joel Britt and Smith Lemon. None are identified. I am trying to find separate photos of the others so by process of elimination I can ID Samuel. Samuel and his wife Celia Martin are buried behind the Northcutt-Pyron cemetery. He was born in Franklin Co., GA and lived in Acworth from 1840 thru his death in 1885. Thanks for any help. Samuel Carlton Robertson, onsitesam@charter.net
ReplyDeleteWhile researching family, I was reading another story tonight about James Lile Lemon's 2 brother-in-laws (brothers of Eliza Davenport Lemon) being killed in battle and him retrieving their remains for burial back home. I may be wrong, but that could be a potential link to who is in the graves you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother was Sara Orr Howren Kirk. Her Grandmother was Mariah Nichols. Mariah was a daughter of James Lyle Lemon. My Grandmother spent a lot of time at the Lemon House growing up. My name is Stephanie Howren and I am born and raised Marietta, GA.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy reading the many stories on James L Lemon and doing research on our family tree. His daughter Sarah Virginia "Jennie" Lemon Jones is my Great Grandmother. Growing up, I would hear many stories from my Mother who was named Virginia after her, and my Aunts, Uncles and Grandfather of the Lemons and Jones family tree. They educated me on the family history in the Civil War, Georgia, and the towns of Acworth, Emerson, Tifton, Omega and Ocilla.
ReplyDeleteJennie had Capt.James L Lemon as her Father, and her husband Thomas Henry had Lt Col CM Jones as his Father. Both were Civil War heroes and important in the towns they lived.
My mother, Mary Virginia 'Ginny" Jones was raised by her namesake and Grandmother Sarah Virginia "Jennie" Lemon Jones.
ReplyDeleteI too enjoy family history, so I wanted to let you know that I am part of your family.My great grandmother was Annie Lou Jones, the daughter of Sarah Virginia Lemon and Thomas Henry Jones. My great grandfather was David Eli Tawzer. The Jones family settled in Omega, Ga a small town outside of Tifton, Ga and our family is from Tifton. Thanks to many hours of research by several of my relatives, we have a good bit of family history. We meet the last Sunday in October each year for a family reunion and that is when the family information is shared. If you are interested in what we have, let me know.
ReplyDeleteMy wife, Mary Lemon Gibbs and I visited Acworth in 2014 and again in 2019. We explored the Lemon family home and neighborhood around Lemon Street.
ReplyDeleteMary is a direct descendent of James Lemon. Her great grandfather was among those Lemon family members who emigrated to northeast Texas in the late 1870’s- early 1880’s. Her grandfather, William Lemon, born in 1848, lived in a small community near Sulphur Springs where many of the relatives still reside.
William Lemon produced 15 children with three sequential wives. Bob Lemon, Mary’s father, was the youngest, born in 1917. He married Virginia Robinson from Sulphur Springs in 1942. They had three daughters, Bettye, born in 1943, Mary, born in 1950 (and recently passed, in 2021) and Sally, born in 1952.
Mary and I have two children and three grandchildren with number four due in June.
Andrew Gibbs, Fayetteville, Arkansas
dagibbs@uark.edu
Hi, I am the author of the Civil War Picket blog. I am trying to find out whom I can contact to request permission to use the wartime photograph of Capt. Lemon with a post about Fort Pulaski. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThat would be me: Mark Lemon, Captain James L Lemon's great great grandson.
DeleteMy # is 678-770-9782, and I'm also on facebook under Mark Lemon
This blog has been beyond interesting to me.I love the history
ReplyDeleteThank you. I need to get back to blogging.
Delete