This Georgia Plantation has been in the same family since 1784

Birdsville Plantation, Millen Georgia

Date added: July 13, 2023 Categories: Georgia House Plantations & Farms

The main house at Birdsville Plantation reflects the changing life of one family from the late 18^th century even until the present moment. The original grant of land on which the house and numerous surviving old outbuildings lie has been inherited by family, added to, but never sold since December 24, 1784, when Philip Jones received 287 acres of land for his services in the Revolution. Sometime between the date of that grant and his death in 1789, Philip built the first section of Birdsville which survives basically intact as the rear portion of the house. This structure evidently served its purpose until about 1850 when Dr. William B. Jones commissioned major architectural changes which survive essentially unchanged. The imposing front entrance with its twin Corinthian columns in antis crowned by a heavy cornice and pediment; the twin bays; the ironwork and carpenter gothic scrollwork all clearly testify that Dr. Jones' up-to-the-minute architectural taste was well supported by several thousand lucrative acres of cotton. The Civil War modified the way of life which supported Dr. Jones taste but the house remained in the family's hands and since they remained fundamentally unchanged, the house perfectly reflects this status quo. The pre-Civil War "redecoration" remains intact, with an aristocratic patina of age, gentle use, and proved durability. Perhaps the one person responsible for the pristine quality of that preservation was Mrs. Benjamin Franklin, the late great-great-granddaughter of Philip Jones. For many years while she was mistress of the plantation she held it open to the public, charming visitors with her "interpretations" of the place. Many of the original possessions have gone to other members of the family but one did not notice because Mrs. Franklin and the house cast a spell. Since her death, Mr. and Mrs. James Andrew are trying to keep the house and numerous outbuildings together. Mary Andrew, Mrs. Franklin's granddaughter and thus a direct descendent, is determined to save the total environment which makes up Birdsville crossroads: a two-room kitchen, well house, necessary house, smokehouse, blacksmith shop, stagestop-apothecary, family burial ground and ancient trees, especially the avenue at the crossroads and leading up to the house. Named for a postmaster by the name of Bird who lived on the place in the 19^th century, Birdsville is no doubt the most significant, and perhaps the only complete and fundamentally unaltered plantation complex surviving in Georgia.

Building Description

Birdsville Plantation is made up of many units but it is more than a sum of these parts. The physical appearance today is fundamentally that of about 1850, with the addition of more than 150 years of aging. Unfortunately each day Birdsville appears more like a Hollywood set for a mythically decadent "Old South." Each wooden building, except for the big house, is weathered gray with roof of mossy shakes, and some with no roof at all. Except for the house, the plantation units could date from 1800 to 1890; in rural Georgia, the building practices for such buildings changed hardly at all during that wide span of years. This will be confined to the appearance of the big house which essentially dates from two periods, c. 1800 and c. 1850.

The house was quite clearly built in two main sections; the rear or earlier portion was a two-up, two-down plantation plain-style house with shed rooms. The front section, dating from Dr. William Jones' remodeling, c. 1850, is described on the facing page. The whole composition is somewhat unified by a high basement, dusty black-green shutters, and aging white painted clapboards. A side porch with fragile wooden carpenter gothic scrollwork and sheaf-of-wheat handrail also serves to bring the two sections together. On the inside two distinct building periods are even more apparent than outside. In the early portion, woodwork is federal, and in the front, later portion, Greek Revival. A major feature of the house is in the small stair hallway of the rear section; a door has been so artfully grained to imitate paneled wood that the deception cannot be discerned without the sense of touch. All in all Birdsville today is that sought-after rarity in southern architectural history, an antebellum plantation essentially, though perhaps momentarily, intact.