Hidden Magnolias

My fav sis-in-law is coming for a visit in May and we are planning a girl's get away to Savannah and to Beaufort, SC. In all my trekking around on the southern coasts, I have never been to Beaufort. Beaufort is located on Port Royal Island, in the heart of the Sea Islands and South Carolina Low country. It is Pat Conroy country. Garden and Gun One of things I am really looking forward to is seeing the beautiful houses in Beaufort. I wanted to share a few with you.  Trust me, they are drool worthy. We will be staying in the Rhett House Inn: rhetthouseinn.com rhetthouseinn.com The beauty below is the Joseph Johnson House 411 Craven St. http://www.beaufortonline.com/ The William Waterhouse House - 212 New Street http://www.beaufortonline.com/ The  John Archibald Johnson House - 804 Pinckney Street http://www.beaufortonline.com/ George Elliott House – 1001 Bay Street http://www.beaufortonline....

Saturday was absolutely a perfect day, filled with activities I love: meeting other people interested in family history, searching for a missing graveyard, a cute little Southern Town, and big houses. It all started when a family member of the Maddux family reached out to me to help her "straighten out" an old family graveyard's documentation on Find a Grave. The documentation and the information found on Internet was incorrect. Through our conversation it was decided finding the cemetery was the best way to confirm dates. So a day was planned and off I went. I arrived early, so I ran over to the nearby Methodist Cemetery. Established in 1805, it has some of the oldest graves in Jasper Co. I was looking for my 3rd great grand uncle: Jeremiah Pearson.  As soon as I entered the cemetery and gave a scan across, I saw what I knew in my heart was Jeremiah's grave -- above ground tombs under a huge cedar tree. Up close with the help of cheap foil, I...

Originally a home, then a hospital, then a warehouse, then a restaurant, and now...back to being a private residence after being sold to a physician in 2006 and remodeled by Todd Architects -- this 8 bed, 8 bath beauty is still with us. From the book, Marietta, 1833-2003 by James Bolan Glover, descendant of the original owners and Rebecca Nash Paden: “Charleston planter John Heyward Glovers, Jr. built Bushy Park, a Greek Revival plantation house, on his 3000 acre property in 1848. The house had 17 rooms and many outbuildings, including a stone kitchen, which still exists. Heart Pine floors and hand-hewn beams are featured in the house. William King* and his servants occupied the mansion during the Civil War battles in 1864. The house was also used as a federal hospital.”   (*son of Roswell King and Catherine Barrington) Is it haunted? A lot of the paranormal activity is contributed to the fact it was used as a hospital during the Civil War. When it was a re...

One of my favorite houses in Hancock County is Pomegranate Hall. Built in 1830 by Judge Nathan Sayre, this beauty was destroyed by fire in 2008. Efforts are underway to restore this historic home, but given that restoring historic homes, with all the codes, requirements and permits, I am not sure it can be done. It is located at 322 Adams Street, Sparta. Ga. Judge Nathan Sayre, never married, had several children with one of his slave women and later lived with, but never married, Susan Hunt, who was part Cherokee, African, and Caucasian. Here is an artist’s rendition of how that house have looked in its heyday. Artist: Sterling Everett   Here is a picture before it burned. College of Environment and Design, University of Georgia It is said that the house was built in NJ and brought down to Georgia. The porch is mounted by stairways on either side, and a balustrade runs along the front of the porch and down each stairway. Over the entrance i...

Thanks to a friend, who knows I have a passion for crumbling mansions, I came upon knowledge of this house today. The Berkyn Manor Farm & Manor House in Horton - just 4 miles from Windsor Castle. http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/02/07/milton/ Picture Medvia.com.uk The house is reportedly once home of John Milton, poet, author of  Paradise Lost.  He lived in the house with his parents from 1632 to 1638. (Not 100% sure about that, but perhaps this is the site of John Milton's home.) She has really good bones and once was quite the show place.  Medvia.com.uk From all the pictures, it appears to have just been left "as is" by the previous owner, Ernest Raynor. I did a little more Googling and found several sources with pictures.  Let's look. http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/mansions-manors-country-houses/75121-berkyn-manor-horton-sept-2012-a.html http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/mansions-manors-country-houses/75121-berkyn-mano...

Craigie House, a historic Midtown Atlanta building, collapsed on Feb 12, 2014, because of ice. I felt very sad when I heard the news. nbcnews.com When I was younger, I would occasionally drive by Craigie House. It was one of the original meeting centers for the Atlanta Chapter of the Daughters of The American Revolution. The chapter was organized 15 April 1891, making it the oldest chapter in Georgia and the second oldest in the United States. Over the years, I watched her deteriorate. Here is picture taken in 1987. Rough, but preservable. John Spink - AJC Some of uses included a place where old, homeless Confederate veterans were once fed and bedded. During WWI, they made bandages here. Various efforts to restore and preserve and move the house have been unsuccessful. According to the AJC,  a tree fell on the home in the mid-1980s, damaging it and rendering it unusable. Repairs were made over the years, but the building was again damaged by Hurricane Opal in 1...