Known locally as the Half Way House for its central location on the Belle Meade Hunt Club’s fox run, this raised cottage was built for Thomas & Epatha Rees Bowdre. Slight additions and modifications over the years have been necessary for the structure’s use as a clubhouse, but its historic integrity has been generally maintained. A deck, visible on the right side of the house, is perhaps the most obvious of these changes.
Bowdre emigrated from Virginia to Georgia and fathered ten children. A successful farmer, he owned 1540 acres and 44 slaves by 1827. In 1835, Bowdre sold the property to his wife’s cousin, Vincent Rees. Bowdre died in 1846. Rees lived in the house until his death in 1885. The property was sold to T. A. Scott, who subsequently sold it to Peter S. Knox in 1907. It has remained in and been well cared for by the Knox family ever since. It’s one of the best remaining examples, in its original setting, of a raised cottage in Georgia.
National Register of Historic Places
http://focus.nps.gov/GetAsset?assetID=e52e9b0f-bece-4421-ae98-cf548c66219c
This is the front of the house.
Thanks, Wendi!