Built for Peter J. Williams, the Homestead was owned for many generations by his descendants, including his great-granddaughters “Miss Sue” Jones, Mrs. David Ferguson, and Betty Ferguson. Frances Lewis is also listed by architectural historian John Linley as an owner of this grand home.
In The Architecture of Middle Georgia: The Oconee Area, John Linley shares some fascinating anecdotes about the Homestead: It…has a ghost, who appears as a little old lady dressed in brown and usually seen in the garden about dusk. She…has followed the family from Wales to New England, and thence to Georgia. She also attends to her ghostly duties, though in a rather lackadaisical way. She has been known to appear to members of the family just before they died, or before there were deaths in the family. Mostly, however, she just putters about the garden.“
But please don’t come here looking for the ghost or for an invitation into the garden. Be respectful that the house is private property.
More importantly, Linley continues: The Homestead may well be the first house in America to utilize a narrow colossal-type portico with only two columns. Though never widely used, the style became so popular in the Milledgeville area that it is frequently referred to as the Milledgeville-Federal type of architecture.
Adjacent to the Homestead is this structure, the brick lower floor of which was originally the kitchen for the estate. It’s likely contemporary to the 1818 date of the main house. The second floor was a later addition which I assume may have housed servants.
Milledgeville Historic District, National Register of Historic Place
The home has examples of Federal interior details with original wall and plaster. The floor plan emulates a Georgian period .The home continues to function as a private residence.
The second floor of the dependency, judging from the photo, appears to me to be original, though not the part to the left, which is clearly an addition.
What does it look like today? Has it been restored?
This photograph is recent, so I assume it has been.
The most interesting use of this structure besides part of it being a kitchen, part of it servant quarters, is that Peter Jones Williams, builder of the Homestead, rented rooms out to legislators during the session. Instead of having to stay in the cramped quarters of many of the inns, they could live here more comfortably–so the preservation of this structure, with its unique function, is incredibly important.
Isn’t there an old tale about buried treasure, a large cache of gold hidden during the Civil War?
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