Community celebrates 48th anniversary of Stetson Home relocation

Published 10:06 am Saturday, September 27, 2014

The community is invited to celebrate the 48^th anniversary of the move of the Brown-Stetson-Sanford home.

“The year we’re going to do an old-fashioned tea party,” said Amy Wright, executive director of Georgia’s Old Capital Museum.

The home, built by Dr. Brown on the site of the current Baldwin County Courthouse in 1825, was originally the Beecher-Brown Hotel and then State’s Rights Hotel, both of which provided accommodations for legislators, and was headquarters for the Whig Party. It was designed by local architect John Marlor in the “Milledgeville Federal” style, and includes a staircase that was a trademark of Marlor’s.

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The inn was bought and transformed into a private home by Daniel Stetson in 1857. “Stetson was from the northeast region of the United States who came to Milledgeville from North Carolina,” Wright said. “He opened a mercantile business in Milledgeville and became very active in both the community and the Baptist church.”

Stetson went on to raise three prominent children: James, Will and Cecilia.

James eventually married and moved away while Will served in the Civil War for the Confederacy. Will’s descendents include Eugene Stetson, who was a banker and philanthropist, and a building at Mercer University is named after him, Wright said.

Cecilia Stetson remained in Milledgeville and eventually married Daniel Sanford. Wright said Cecilia took care of her mother, Edith Stetson, and when she passed away, Cecilia inherited the home. Cecilia and Daniel raised their children in the home, as did the next several generations of Sanfords. The home remained in the family for 109 years.

From 1951 through 1966, the home was the famous Sanford House Restaurant.

“The fact that it went on to become a restaurant of national reputation adds to the historical value,” Wright said. “U.S. Congressman Carl Vinson ate there when he was in town, and Flannery O’Connor ate there.”

The property on which the restaurant sat was sold in 1966 to the Piggly Wiggly chain, which scheduled the home for demolition to make way for a parking lot.

Rather than allowing the historic home to be destroyed, the Old Capital Historic Society rallied the community to save the home.

“The Sanfords donated the home to the Old Capital Historic Society with the expectation it would be moved,” Wright said.

Within a matter of months, the society helped to raise $50,000 (or about $368,000 in today’s money) and found a new spot for the house on Hancock Street.

On June 29, 1966, the house was moved four blocks away to its present-day location on the corner of Hancock and Jackson streets.

Stetsons and Sanfords still live in the area, and many come to tour the home and the family’s plot in Memory Hill Cemetery. Wright said the clan held a family reunion at the house in 2005.

The moving of the home marked the beginning of historic preservation in Milledgeville because it raised public awareness of how much history the city has to offer.

“When this house was recognized for its historical value and architectural value, people began to take a look at the old houses in Milledgeville, and people began to look at preserving and restoring the old houses,” Wright said. “It (the move) made the public aware of the value of these old homes and encouraged others to save them.”

The Old Capital Historical Society merged with Georgia Old Capital Museum Society in 2003, at which time the Museum Society was given management of the home. The society has continued preservation and restoration efforts.

A grant from the Watson Brown Foundation Junior Board allowed the attic to be refinished, and the library has been refurbished by a grant funded by the Colonial Dames.

“The new things will be the attic room that we have been working on and the refurbishing of the library,” Wright said.

Only a few pieces in the home actually belonged to the Stetson and Sanford families, such as a sofa located on the second floor, but the furniture in the home is period accurate and comparable to what the family would have had.

“This is the period from 1857 to 1880, and it’s the period we try to reproduce in the house,” Wright said.

Donations to the Museum Society and volunteers are needed to continue the work.

“We’re requesting donations for the preservation and continued restoration of the house,” Wright said. “The restored attic room will be refurbished as the room for the cook/body servant and will add the African-American history to the house’s story. We have not had anything that brought attention to the African-American presence in the history of the house yet.”

The home is open to tours Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays on the trolley tour from Milledgeville’s visitors’ bureau. It is also available for small weddings, luncheons and bridal parties, Wright said, as well as special events by the Museum Society.

Volunteers are also needed. Wright said there is only one full-time and one part-time society employee, and the two are often kept busy with tours to the museum, which is open four days a week. However, Wright said if the right volunteer comes along, the home could be opened for tours every day.

“If a volunteer is available, would like to have it open for visitors and the city to drop by. We would love it,” Wright said.

Volunteers are also needed for the Stetson Family Tour coming in October, Wright said. Re-enactors will be in period costume as members of the Stetson family preparing the home for wartime holidays and activities to support their son, who was a solider in the Confederate army.

During the tours, more than 500 fifth graders from local schools tour the home while learning about Georgia’s part in the Civil War.

The house’s move will be celebrated by an old-fashioned tea party as well as tours of the home from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21. At 3 p.m., Wright will give a short presentation about the home from its 1857 to 1865 years when it was the home of Daniel and Edith Stetson. The community is invited to attend.

For more information, call the Old Capital Museum at (478) 453-1803.