The Alfred Hatch Place at Arcola, also known as the Arcola Plantation and locally as the Half-house, is a historic plantation house and

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

on the Black Warrior River several miles northwest of Gallion, Alabama.

History

It is located on land first settled by Frederic Ravesies, in what was once the Vine and Olive Colony town of

Arcola Arcola may refer to: Places ; Australia * Arcola, Grafton, a heritage-listed house in New South Wales ;Canada * Arcola, Saskatchewan, a town in the Province of Saskatchewan * Arcola Airport, an airport in the Province of Saskatchewan ;England * Ar ...

, founded by French immigrants in the early 19th century. It was part of Marengo County until

Hale County Hale County is the name of two counties in the United States: * Hale County, Alabama *Hale County, Texas Hale County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 32,522. The county seat is Plainview ...

was created in 1867. The main house was built in 1856 as the center of a forced-labor plantation owned by Alfred Parker Hatch. Hatch, born on October 14, 1799, in

Craven County, North Carolina Craven County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 100,720. Its county seat is New Bern. The county was created in 1705 as Archdale Precinct from the now-extinct Bath County. It was renamed ...

, married Elizabeth Vail Blount on May 8, 1822. The family, which eventually included three sons and three daughters, moved to Alabama in 1840. Alfred Hatch established several large plantations, including Elm Ridge near Greensboro, and enslaved a total of 200 people to work them. He purchased Arcola in the early 1850s from his brother Lemuel D. Hatch during a period of financial difficulty. Elizabeth Hatch died before the end of the Civil War and Alfred remarried to Victoria Jones Walker. They had one daughter together in 1873. Alfred Hatch died on January 30, 1879, leaving most of the estate to his second wife, creating a rift between her and the children of his first wife.

Architecture

The Hatch Place is a rare Alabama example of a temple-form house in the Greek Revival style. The house is a three-story brick structure, with massing suggestive of a

pseudoperipteral A pseudoperipteros is a building with engaged columns embedded in the outer walls, except the front of the building. The form is found in classical architecture in ancient Greek temples, especially in the Hellenistic period. In Roman temples, th ...

building. The front facade features a monumental tetrastyle

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 A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

across the front, with a full-width cantilevered balcony under the portico on the second level. A Tudor arch window is centered in the pediment over the portico. The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 6, 1988, due to its architectural and historical significance.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Hale County, Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Greek Revival houses in Alabama Houses completed in 1856 Plantation houses in Alabama Historic districts in Hale County, Alabama Houses in Hale County, Alabama Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama History of slavery in Alabama