Liberty Hall is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

in Crawfordville, Taliaferro County, Georgia, in the eastern Georgia

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

.''Neat Pieces: The Plain-style Furniture of Nineteenth-century Georgia'' (University of Georgia Press, 1983), pp. 32–34. It was the home of

Alexander H. Stephens Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was an American politician who served as the vice president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865, and later as the 50th governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1 ...

, a prominent Georgia political figure who was a member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

(1843–1853), Vice President of the Confederate States of America (1861–1865), and after the end of 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 ...

, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives again (1873–1882) and

governor of Georgia The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor also has a duty to enforce state laws, the power to either veto or approve bills passed by the Georgia Legisl ...

(1882–1883). Stephens resided in the home from 1839 until his death in 1883.Shearer Davis Bowman, ''Masters and Lords: Mid-19th-Century U.S. Planters and Prussian Junkers'' (Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 15. The home is now a museum and part of

A. H. Stephens Historic Park A. H. Stephens State Park is a Georgia state park located in Crawfordville. The park is named for Alexander Hamilton Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and a former Georgia governor. The park contains Stephens' ...

, a Georgia state park maintained by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and designated

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 ...

. The larger A. H. Stephens Historic Park contains tent and trailer sites, picnic sites, and fishing ponds, as well as a nature trail and rustic cabins, and was mostly built by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

, beginning in 1933. The structure was also known as Bachelor's Hall in 1859. The home was Stephens's "isolated haven," situated twenty miles away from Washington, Georgia.William W. Freehling, ''The Road to Disunion, Volume II: Secessionists Triumphant, 1854–1861'' (Oxford University Press, 2007).

History and description

Stephens was born two miles north in a

log cabin A log cabin is a small log house, especially a less finished or less architecturally sophisticated structure. Log cabins have an ancient history in Europe, and in America are often associated with first generation home building by settlers. Eur ...

on his father's farm; he was orphaned at the age of fourteen. Stephens purchased the estate in 1845 from the estate of Williamson Byrd, a relative of his stepmother.Georgia Writers' Project, ''Georgia: A Guide to Its Towns and Countryside'' (1940), p. 508. The building was the former family home, but "had been sold out from under the brothers when their father died." In 1872–1875, Stephens tore down the old house, except for two rear rooms, and erected the current structure, which is restored to its original appearance. The home is a simple two-story white

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

house. It has 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, ...

and a

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

extending across its front. The first floor includes Stephens's bedroom, including original walnut furniture, a round table at which Stephens wrote, Stephens's

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

, a repaired original flowered ingrain carpet, and wallpaper with blue and gold stripes. The dining room includes "massive chairs" replicated from a single remaining original chair. To the rear is the library, where Stephens wrote from 1868 to 1870 his ''Constitutional View of the Late War between the States''. Steps lead from the dining room to the second floor; at the top of the stairs is the "Tramps' Room," where many guests, including uninvited guests, often stayed. To the home's rear are restored outbuildings:

slave quarters A barracoon (a corruption of Portuguese ''barracão'', an augmentative form of the Catalan loanword ''barraca'' ('hut') through Spanish ''barracón'') is a type of barracks used historically for the internment of slaves or criminals. In the ...

, a wine cellar,

smokehouse A smokehouse (North American) or smokery (British) is a building where meat or fish is cured with smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with t ...

, woodhouse, washhouse, and chickenhouse. At the time of emancipation in 1864, Stephens owned thirty-one slaves, most of whom remained with him after the war's end. It was at Liberty Hall that Stephens was captured by

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

forces from a detachment of the

4th Iowa Cavalry The 4th Iowa Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service The 4th Iowa Cavalry was organized at Camp Harlan in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, beginning in September 1861, and mustered in for ...

, after which Stephens formally surrendered to

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Emory Upton and was imprisoned before being released. Stephens's constant companion at the home was a large, fluffy white dog named Rio. Many of Stephens's books are housed in a smaller structure behind, where he spent much of his time after the war. The home was known for its many guests from all walks of life, who were invited for meals with Stephens. After Stephens's death in office in 1883, his

sitting room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room ( Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a residential house or apartment ...

was preserved as he left it,Gary L. Doster, ''Northeast Georgia in Vintage Postcards'' (Arcadia Publishing, 1998), p. 47 and the hall passed to his surviving relatives. The home served as a boardinghouse until 1932, when it was donated to the

State of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...

. Today, the house is renovated to its 1875 appearance. The home was added to 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 ...

on May 13, 1970, and was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

on May 4, 1983.

Images

Image:Stephens Monument.JPG, Alexander Stephens Memorial Image:18-10-009-stephens.jpg, Slave Quarters Image:18-10-029-stephens.jpg, Library Image:18-10-082-stephens.jpg, Dining Room Image:18-10-163-stephens.jpg, Kitchen

Notes

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Liberty Hall (Crawfordville, Georgia)
A. H. Stephens Historic Park official website
National Historic Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state) Historic house museums in Georgia (U.S. state) Houses completed in 1834 Museums in Taliaferro County, Georgia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Georgia Houses in Taliaferro County, Georgia National Register of Historic Places in Taliaferro County, Georgia Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Georgia (U.S. state) Alexander H. Stephens Plantations in Georgia (U.S. state) Slave cabins and quarters in the United States 1834 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

History and description

Images

See also

Notes

External links