Tullie Smith House
National Register photograph by Yen Tang
The Tullie Smith House is a typical early Georgia plantation house,
the form and details of which are known as the "plantation plain"
style. The Smith House contains many characteristic architectural
features of this type including weatherboard siding, simple gable
roof, masonry chimney, and interior walls sheathed with matching
boarding, simple window trim and doors. The house was built c. 1840
by Robert Smith, who migrated from Rutherford County, North Carolina,
by 1830 and settled in DeKalb County, Georgia. Smith was a yeoman
farmer who owned 11 slaves and cultivated approximately 200 of his
800 acres of land, while his cattle and hogs ranged freely nearby.
Yeoman farms, such as the Smith's, were more common in Georgia than
the large plantations many people associate with the Deep South.
Smith's great-great-granddaughter, Tullie, was the last member of
the family to occupy the property. The two-story house has an attached
rear section with a shed roof. The front facade was altered on the
first floor level around 1885 when the original front porch was
replaced by a full-length shed porch and "traveler's room."
The original first floor plan was altered c. 1875, but it has
been restored. There are two front rooms with a steep stair that
rises from the right front room, and two smaller rooms under a shed
roof addition to the rear of the house. The second floor has two
rooms. There are three original mantels, two in the front rooms
on the first floor, and one in the left room on the second floor.
The original detached kitchen is directly behind the house--one
large chimney composed of stone and brick is still used for cooking.
By the late 1960s, Atlanta's highways and executive park developments
mushroomed around this house, located on a hill, until it was isolated.
Heirs offered to donate the house and kitchen outbuilding to the
Atlanta Historical Society (now the Atlanta History Center), and
an Atlanta banker provided the money needed for their relocation
in 1969 and restoration in the early 1970s. The Tullie Smith House
is a rare example of the plantation plain style that has been restored
and operated for educational purposes.
The Tullie Smith House is located at 130 West Paces Ferry Rd.
in NW Atlanta. It is owned and maintained by the Atlanta History
Center. Costumed interpreters lead 30-minute tours of the house
from 11:15am (1:15pm on Sundays) until 4:15pm; there is a fee for
admission. Call 404-814-4000 or visit their website
for more information.