Atlanta has some old, storied structures that weren't burned down or paved over. Built around 1845, the Tullie Smith House may have the longest tale of them all. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it is one of the oldest standing structures within the city. It and the Joseph Willis House were built around the same time, though online sources list Tullie Smith as older.
The house was originally located in DeKalb County, outside the city limits, surviving the destruction in Atlanta during the Civil War, according to the Atlanta History Center. It has weathered years of wear and tear and the changing of centuries without major restructuring.
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The simple family home is the epitome of a Georgia plantation-plain style home with weatherboard siding, a gable shed-style roof, masonry chimneys, interior boarded walls to match the outside and classically cased window trim and doors.
According to the National Park Service of Atlanta, the house was built by Robert Hiram Smith, who migrated from Rutherford County, North Carolina, by 1830 and settled in DeKalb County, Georgia. Smith was a farmer who owned 11 slaves and cultivated approximately 200 of his 800 acres of land, while his cattle and hogs ranged freely nearby.
This house style was good for the tough Southern climate. The door and windows were installed strategically to enable airflow throughout the home. Windows placed on both sides of each chimney provide cross ventilation. The home also was built on a raised foundation.
According to the Buckhead Heritage Society, one end of the front porch of the Tullie Smith House is enclosed to create an additional room, which was sometimes seen in this house type. This type of room was often referred to as the parson's or traveler's room. The only access is from the door to the front porch, which allowed the family to retain its privacy.
Today the Tullie Smith Farm House is used as an educational resource. For curious kids or history buffs, this historic site is a great idea for a day trip. The Atlanta History Center created an "open house format featuring first-person, costumed interpreters who initiate conversations that bring the history of our sites to life." Smith Family Farm visitors will meet with actors portraying Smith family characters, neighbors and slaves, each of whom has exciting and heartbreaking stories to tell about farm life in rural Georgia during the Civil War.
"The kitchen and blacksmith's shop are always a wonderful experience when they are being interpreted," said Kelly Bradley, director of 19th Century Historic Houses. "Occasionally we have tasks that guests can help with--shelling peas, laundry, dipping candles, etc."
The Tullie Smith House is always changing and evolving and Bradley says that there are always big plans for the farm.
"We are always expanding our daily interpretation of the site as a whole," she said. "We try to emulate a working farm by using the seasons as the original residents would have."
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