The Swanton House is a historic building in downtown

Decatur, Georgia Decatur () is a city and the county seat of DeKalb County, Georgia, DeKalb County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, th ...

and is one of a very few pre-

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

buildings in the area which are still standing. It was entered into the National Register of Historic Places on August 30, 1978.

History

The original two-room log cabin portion of the house was constructed at 240 Atlanta Avenue by Burwell Johnson around 1825, and later sold to Ammi Williams. (Exact details were lost when many records burned in the DeKalb courthouse fire of 1842.) The house was updated several times, adding several rooms and a porch. The house is named for Benjamin Franklin Swanton, who came from

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in the 1830s during the

Georgia Gold Rush The Georgia Gold Rush was the second significant gold rush in the United States and the first in Georgia, and overshadowed the previous rush in North Carolina. It started in 1829 in present-day Lumpkin County near the county seat, Dahlonega, ...

to sell mining equipment. Swanton purchased the house in 1852 when he moved to Decatur to sell

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); ...

s. Swanton became a successful businessman in Decatur with a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

brickyard A brickyard or brickfield is a place or Yard (land), yard where bricks are made, pottery firing, fired, and stored, or sometimes Commerce, sold or otherwise distributed from. Brick makers work in a brick yard. A brick yard may be constructed ...

tannery Tanning, or hide tanning, is the process of treating skins and hides of animals to produce leather. A tannery is the place where the skins are processed. Historically, vegetable based tanning used tannin, an acidic chemical compound derived fr ...

and

machine shop A machine shop or engineering workshop is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tool (machining), cutting tools to make parts, usua ...

. Swanton, his wife and daughter fled to

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

during the Civil War, leaving the house in the care of a widow Mrs. Johnson. On July 19, 1864, the house became the headquarters of the

Army of the Tennessee The Army of the Tennessee was a Union Army, Union army in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, named for the Tennessee River. A 2005 study of the army states that it "was present at most of the great battles that became turning points ...

, on their way to participate in the

Battle of Atlanta The Battle of Atlanta took place during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply hub of Atlanta, Union forces ...

. The presence of General Thomas W. Sweeny at the Swanton House is recorded in records of the time. Later, when

General Sherman William Tecumseh Sherman ( ; February 8, 1820February 14, 1891) was an American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a General officer, general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), earning recognit ...

ordered the occupation of Atlanta in September 1864, the

Army of the Ohio The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union Army, Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863. History 1st Army of the Ohio General Orders No. 97 appointed ...

used the Swanton House as its headquarters. The house was thus spared destruction in the war. The property remained in the Swanton family until the 1960s. Beginning in 1957, concern was shown for preserving the house due to the commercialization of downtown Decatur. By the mid-1960s the house was threatened by

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

efforts in the area. The family sold the property in January 1965 to the Decatur Housing Authority, with an option to retain and restore the house. Atlanta banker

Mills Lane Mills Bee Lane III (November 12, 1937 – December 6, 2022) was an American referee (boxing), boxing referee and professional boxer, a two-term Washoe County, Nevada district court judge, and television personality. Lane was best known for ha ...

was interested in preserving the house, and bought the structure from the family. He ultimately decided in 1970 to move the house to preserve it. Lane provided funds for restoration by the DeKalb History Center, providing the city could provide a location for the house. In April 1970 the city commission supplied a portion of Ebster Park facing West Trinity Place for this purpose. The house was moved and restored, along with the original historical marker dating from 1957. It was reopened and dedicated in 1972. It also now sits adjacent to the Mary Gay House on West Trinity Place in the

Adair Park Adair Park is a historic residential neighborhood located southwest of downtown Atlanta. It has the form of a left Bracket#Curly brackets, curly bracket, bordered by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, MARTA north–south rail lin ...

neighborhood of Decatur. Although it is not in its original historic location, it does still sit on land owned by Swanton which was used for his tannery. Other historic structures have been moved nearby by the DeKalb History Center including the Biffle cabin and the Thomas-Barber cabin. The current location has posed some challenges, for example the close proximity of the four structures to each other does not represent how these buildings would have appeared originally. The current location of Swanton House is also wetter than its original location, causing a problem with mold. Nearly $40,000 in repairs have been made since 2008 to mitigate this.

References

Notes

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* With * *

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Swanton House
The Swanton House

historical marker A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, bearing text or an image in relief, or both, ...

with photos
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Swanton family papers, 1801-1957
* National Register of Historic Places in DeKalb County, Georgia Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state) Decatur, Georgia

History

See also

References

Notes

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External links