Aduston Hall is a historic

antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern United States ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum ...

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...

in the

riverside Riverside may refer to: Places Australia * Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania Canada * Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon * Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta * Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...

town of

Gainesville, Alabama Gainesville is a town in Sumter County, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1832, it was incorporated in 1835. At the 2010 census the population was 208, down from 220. Confederate Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest surrendered his men nea ...

. Although the raised cottage displays the strict symmetry and precise detailing of the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style, it is very unusual in its massing. The house is low and spread out over one-story with a fluid floor-plan more reminiscent of a 20th-century California ranch house than the typically boxy neoclassical houses of its own era. NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved July 2, 2011. It is a contributing property to the

Gainesville Historic District The Gainesville Historic District is a historic district that encompasses a historic section of Gainesville, Alabama, United States. The district was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on March 25, 1976 and the National R ...

. The district was listed on the

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties ...

on March 25, 1976, and the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

on October 3, 1985. Now owned by the Sumter County Historical Society, the house is operated as a visitor welcome center for the historic district. The Society also uses the house and grounds as the centerpiece of its Sumter Heritage Days, held each spring. In 1994, the Historical Society received $130,000 in local, state, and federal funds to stabilize and restore the house.

History

Aduston Hall was built as a summer home for Amos Travis from 1844 to 1846. Travis, a resident of

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

, used the house as a refuge from the heat, humidity, and disease that plagued Mobile during the summer months. The property was a largely self-sufficient plantation complex. Five 19th-century outbuildings remain at the site.

Architecture

The one-story wood-frame house is composed of a rectangular central main block and H-shaped side wings. The roof of the central portion runs parallel to the front of the house. The center of this block is fronted by a temple-like pedimented

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

portico projecting several feet out from the main Doric porch under the main roof. The central front entrance door is derived from designs published by

Asher Benjamin Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities an ...

. The main block is abutted on both sides by front gabled side wings projecting past the central portion to the front and rear of the house. These are ornamented with Doric

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s. With its H-shaped plan, the house provided excellent

cross ventilation Cross-ventilation is a natural phenomena where wind, fresh air or a breeze enters upon an opening, such as a window, and flows directly through the space and exits through an opening on the opposite side of the building (where the air pressure is l ...

for all of the major rooms. Historically, there were three other very similar houses known in the vicinity of Aduston Hall. The Travis-Derryberry-Harwood House (also built by the Travis family as a summerhouse), which also survives in Gainesville, the Norwood Plantation in

Faunsdale, Alabama Faunsdale is a town in Marengo County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census the population was 90, down from 98 in 2010. Faunsdale is home to a community of Holdeman Mennonites, the such community outside of Greensboro, Alabama. The town ...

, destroyed in the 1930s, and the Van de Graaff home which was located in the Virginia Hill area of Gainesville .

References

{{Reflist Greek Revival houses in Alabama Plantation houses in Alabama Houses in Sumter County, Alabama Houses completed in 1844 Historic district contributing properties in Alabama National Register of Historic Places in Sumter County, Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama