Dr. Isham G. Bailey House, also known as Cedar Lane Farm, is a historic cottage in

Lamar, Mississippi Lamar is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Benton County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along Mississippi Highway 7 in western Benton County. Lamar has a post office with the ZIP code 38642. The nearly abandoned ...

, United States.

Location

The house is located at 1577 Early Grove Road in Lamar, a small town in

Marshall County, Mississippi Marshall County is a County (United States), county located on the north central border of the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the population was 37,144. Its county seat is Holly Springs, Mississippi, ...

. It is surrounded by 844 acres of land on the property, including some acres in

Fayette County, Tennessee Fayette County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,990. Its county seat is Somerville. The county was named after the Marquis de la Fayette, French hero of the American Revolution. ...

, an adjacent county.

History

The land upon which the house was built originally belonged to the Chickasaw Nation. In the 1830s, it was acquired by two land speculators, Thomas Mull and Samuel Reeves. By the early 1840s, the two speculators sold it to Dr Isham G. Bailey (1813-1885), a "prominent doctor and planter" from

Lincoln County, Tennessee Lincoln County is a county located in the south central part of the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,319. Its county seat and largest city is Fayetteville. The county is named for Major General Benjamin Li ...

. The house was built for Bailey from 1842 to 1855. However, some sources suggest the speculators may have sold the land to a first owner in the 1840s, who built the house in 1842 and sold it to Bailey in the 1850s. Either way, the house was designed as a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

ed cottage in 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 ...

and Italianate architectural styles. Bailey lived in the house with his wife, Susan Bird Bailey (1822-1864), their two sons, Neal T. Bailey and Cullen R. Bailey, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Nancy. Bailey also owned African slaves, who are buried in Bailey Cemetery. After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, Bailey's slaves became sharecroppers on the property. When Bailey died in 1885, the house was inherited by his brother-in-law William M. Parr, husband of Bailey's sister Louisa (1832-1892). Later, it was inherited by their daughter, Jennie Parr, and their granddaughter, Mrs Boyd Burnette. The house was used as a summer retreat owned by the Bailey family until 1985. The house was acquired by James K. Dobbs, III in 1985. Dobbs remodelled the house.

Architectural significance

The house has been listed on 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 v ...

since August 30, 2001.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dr. Isham G. Bailey House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi Antebellum architecture Greek Revival houses in Mississippi Italianate architecture in Mississippi National Register of Historic Places in Marshall County, Mississippi Houses completed in 1855