- Collection:
- Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation Presentation Slide Collection, 1968-2000
- Title:
- Stately Oaks Plantation
- Creator:
- Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
- Contributor to Resource:
- Moore, Joseph Henry Hightower, 1943-
Macgregor, Elizabeth Z.
Jones, Edward Vason, 1909-1980
Allen, Whitmall P. - Date of Original:
- 1971
- Subject:
- Architecture
Historic sites--Georgia--Clayton County
Historic buildings--Georgia--Clayton County
Architecture, Domestic--Georgia--Clayton County
Greek revival (Architecture)
Plantations--Georgia
Cultural property--Protection
Historic preservation--Georgia
Historic buildings--Conservation and restoration - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Clayton County, Jonesboro, 33.5215, -84.35381
- Medium:
- color slides
plantation houses
plantations
mansions
historic preservation
historic buildings - Type:
- Still Image
- Format:
- image/jp2
- Description:
- Built in 1839, Stately Oaks is a Greek Revival plantation house/mansion with a variety of outbuildings and gardens located in Margaret Mitchell Memorial Park in Jonesboro, Georgia. Built in 1839, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is also known as Orr House, The Oaks, and Robert McCord House and is included as part of the Jonesboro Historic District. Additional remarks from Elizabeth Z. Macgregor, Architectural Historian, Historic Preservation Section, Department of Natural Resources: Because of its acquisition by Historical Jonesboro, Inc., and the necessity for relocating the building, the Orr House was moved in October 1972, in two sections, with brick chimneys intact, to its present site. From its National Register of Historic Places nomination form prepared in 1971 by Joseph H. Moore, Administrative Director and Historian, Historical Jonesboro, Inc.: The house is a simple but well-proportioned country house done in the Greek Revival style. From the provincial quality of the details, it appears to have been built, as well as designed, by a capable but untrained carpenter-builder about the year 1840. These carpenter-builders worked from books on architecture published in the early part of the 19th century by trained architects in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The mass of the house is pleasing and the plan basically good, being typical of the majority of the rural Greek Revival houses throughout Georgia. It has a symmetrical plan consisting of two rooms on each side of a central hall. The first and second floor plans are basically identical. The house, when properly restored and furnished, will be architecturally pleasing in appearance and a very good example of this simple country style." (Edward V. Jones, Architect for Historical Jonesboro, Inc.) Construction of the house is attributed to Whitmill Phillips Allen, who owned the plantation upon which the house was built in 1859-1840. In 1858, Allen sold the property to Robert McCord, a planter and Confederate soldier, who owned it until 1879. Clayton County tax records show that McCord owned 404 acres at this place and enslaved 8 people at the time of the Civil War in 1861.During the Civil War, the house became an important landmark during the Atlanta Campaign of 1864 and the Battle of Jonesboro, August 31-September 1, 1864, when Union soldiers camped on the grounds during this time. A daughter of the house, Leonora Antoinette McCord, later recalled: "With the Battle of Atlanta only a few miles north of us and the Battle of Jonesboro a little below us — we could hear the booming of cannon in that battle — and having the enemy troops almost at our door, we felt that had been very near the theater of war, as indeed we had. (from the published memoir of Leonora Antoinette McCord Huie). The house was located on the Atlanta Public Road, four miles north of Jonesboro. It is shown in Union military maps drawn in 1864. Located in a park of large oak trees, the house known as "s stately Oaks" and as "The Oaks". After the war, he resumed farming operations, and continued to be the center of this farm well into the 20th century through later ownerships. Remnants of the old garden surround the house. Historical Jonesboro, Inc., an organization chartered in 1968, worked to highlight the city's historical past, getting its buildings listed on the National Historical Register, and ultimately restoring them. Major historical references: "When the Yankees Came, As Told to Robert 0. Huie by his Mother:” (a memoir of Leonora Antoinette McCord Huie). The source of publication is unknown. Deed references to this property are found in the Fayette County Court House, Fayetteville, Georgia, up to 1858, and after 1858, in the Clayton County Court House, Jonesboro, Georgia. Variant names include: Stately Oaks Plantation, Orr House, Stately Oaks, The Oaks, Robert McCord House, Stately Oaks Historical Community. See ref # 72000382 (Stately Oaks) https://www.nps.gov/subjects/nationalregister/upload/national-register-listed-20240710.xlsx
- External Identifiers:
- Metadata URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gthp_gthp-slides_355
- Digital Object URL:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gthp_gthp-slides_355#item
- IIIF manifest:
- https://dlg.usg.edu/record/gthp_gthp-slides_355/presentation/manifest.json
- Language:
- eng
- Additional Rights Information:
- Please contact holding institution for information regarding use and copyright status.
- Holding Institution:
- Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation
- Rights:
-
