 |
Our History at Wisteria Hall is very interesting for both the history buff and the average layperson. Throughout the years, Wisteria Hall has been owned by by a rich cast of characters, each adding their own personal touches to this stately antebellum home.
In 1995, Jim and Jane Bundy purchased the house and property and have done extensive restoration and renovation. During their restoration, the Bundys have tried to preserve the house by leaving as much as possible in its original state while adding the modern conveniences of todays lifestyle. During the restoration, they discovered many interesting features...
The old cedar shake roof was still intact but had been fully engulfed by a tin roof, about 1795-1800. Local historians were able to date the work by observing this roof and the hand-hewn beams and pegs used. A wrap-around verandah was added around 1926.
By analyzing historic photos of the house and performing other research, Mr. and Mrs. Bundy have made the following additional discoveries...
Wisteria Hall was built in 1795 during the Greek Revival period as a two-over-two and faced North across a meadow to the old Augusta Highway. In 1824 Miss Maria Randolph purchased the house and really made it come to life. Maria was six feet tall and every each a lady. She rode to town in a carriage pulled by matched roan horses and is said to have been a descendant of Pocahontas.
Maria loved to give big parties and dances. She was quite a socialite in her day. She added the huge dining room to the back of the house for her elegant parties. It was the biggest dining room in town! She even purchased a piano with mother of pearl keys to the delight of everyone. Soon after the dining room was completed, Main Street was extended out from the Town Square beyond Maria’s house. Well, nothing would do but Maria’s house face Main Street! She added another two-over-two and made the ladies and gentlemen’s parlors and put the columns on the new front so the house would face Main Street. That is why we say this lovely lady turned around and faced the other way!
The walls in the Ladies Parlor and the Gentlemen’s Parlor are original to the house. They are made of clay, horsehair and lime. The horsehair was used as a binder and the walls are about 1 1/2" thick. The crown moldings are 18” in depth with a picture molding on the bottom layer. These moldings, as well as the ones in the Grand Hall are also original to the house. The old rimlocks on the doors are original too.
While restoring the house, there were many interesting discoveries. Layers and layers of linoleum were taken up from the floor in the area next to the Morning Glory Room. When the last layer was removed and the old heart pine floor was exposed,a trap door had been uncovered. There is a three- foot space between the ceiling downstairs and the floor in that area. When the trap door was lifted, inside were several palettes on the floor. When a workman tried to pick them up, they disintegrated into dust. No one knows how the palettes got there, in fact no one even knew the trap door was there.
It had been said that Logan Bleckley would visit Washington and stay here in this house during the Civil War. Logan Bleckley was from Rabun County and his father was the clerk of three courts in the area. He spent much of his time around the courthouse and many of the lawyers loaned him books to study. Young Logan became interested in law and was admitted to the Georgia Bar at the age of nineteen. He became a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia, a philosopher and a mathematician. He is the man for whom Bleckley County is named. There is a portrait of Logan Bleckley in his later years downstairs in the Gentlemen’s Parlor.
In 1861 Logan Bleckley joined the Confederate Army and was prepared to fight. His friends told him, “Logan you are small and sickly, and you will just slow us down. You can help us best with your legal mind.” So in 1861 he joined the Confederacy as a legal aid and that brought him to Washington, GA. Robert Toombs, Secretary of State, lived across the street and Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, only 24 miles over in Crawfordville. This area of Georgia was quite a hot bed of politics. When Logan came to Washington he would stay here in this house. Near the end of the war the Federals came looking for him but he could never be found. He probably hid right under the floor behind the trap door! There is a portrait of Logan Bleckley in his later years downstairs in the Gentlemen’s Parlor.
The Hidey Hole:
When this house was built there were still Creek and Cherokee Indians living over on the Savannah River. Every once in awhile there would be Indian uprisings. Many houses were built with a hidey-hole or a place for women and children to hide if the men were in the fields or out of town during a time of trouble. This hidey hole may have served yet another purpose---a hiding place for Logan Bleckley.
Bird pictures in the upstairs foyer:
The wallpaper on the walls of the middle foyer upstairs was taken down. It was old and heavy and not tearing apart. On the paper were four different, repeating bird prints, one right after the other. One of each bird print was cut out and framed. Further research has been done on the wallpaper and it is considered vintage wallpaper.
Wisteria and Muscadine Rooms:
If you look carefully over the closet and bathroom doors in these rooms you can see the outline of the old windows that were on the back of the house before it was attached to the original house. During the restoration the shutter latches were found still on the windowsill of one of the windows. The windows were exposed when the bathrooms were created in the front bedrooms. It was not unusual for a house to be moved by oxen to enlarge or reposition a house back then.
Wisteria Hall in Historic Washington, GA... The Classical South at its Best!
|
|
