The Asa Johnston Farmhouse is a historic

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...

Johnstonville Johnstonville (formerly, Toadtown) is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California. It is located east-southeast of Susanville, at an elevation of 4131 feet (1259 m). Its population is 973 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,024 from t ...

, Conecuh County, Alabama. The one story, spraddle roof dogtrot house was built in 1842 by Ezra Plumb for Asa Johnston. ''See also:''

History

The farmhouse is one of only a small number of surviving works by Ezra Plumb, a local carpenter, designer, and builder who became one of Conecuh County's eminent builders prior to the American Civil War. Plumb, born in Connecticut, migrated to the area around 1835. The residence was built for Asa Johnston, born in Bibb County, Georgia, on August 24, 1798. He had arrived in Conecuh by 1818, the year the county was founded, making him one of the original pioneers. He owned forty

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

by 1840. He held of land and forty-seven slaves by 1850. His real estate holdings had increased to , valued at $10,000 by 1860. His personal property was valued at $63,500 during that year. This figure included his farm implements, livestock, and sixty-seven slaves.

Architecture

The house features wood-frame construction throughout. The front facade is seven

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

wide, with a central open breezeway and doors on either side, framed by two windows each. The interior displays simple vernacular Greek Revival details, such as mantles, molded window surrounds, four-panel doors and molded door surrounds. Decorative faux painted finishes are present on trim, wainscoting and doors. The central breezeway features a

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed ceiling, the only example documented in Alabama. A full-width Carolina porch stretches across the front. A semi-detached dining room, built around the same time as the main house, is connected to the rear of the house by a covered elevated walkway. It is a gable-fronted building, one bay wide with a central entrance doorway and two bays deep.

Historic designations

It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on October 4, 1993, and to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 2008.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Asa, Farmhouse National Register of Historic Places in Conecuh County, Alabama Houses in Conecuh County, Alabama Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama Dogtrot architecture in Alabama Houses completed in 1842 Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage