Thornton House

Thornton House. Greene County, Georgia. Redmon Thornton and his wife Sarah Alford Thornton built this house in Greene County, Georgia after they moved to the area from Virginia. The house dates to around 1792, when George Washington was president. They had four children together and a very successful indigo plantation., The house itself is a rather unique piece of architecture. There is a fireplace in every room except the boys room upstairs. Between the two chimneys in the dining room, there is a 'pent' or warming cupboard for food. The construction style itself is called 'nogging,' which is an early frame style construction where the spaces in the frames are filled with bricks. The early Federal Style architecture is typical of homes from the Mid-Atlantic states familiar to the Thorntons., Redomon sent his sons, Vincent, James and Jesse, to nearby universities to receive classical educations, which would have included instruction in ancient Greek and Latin. He also donated a considerable amount of money to help build the Bethesda Baptist Church. Vincent Thornton went on to become a well-regarded Baptist preacher and served on the board at Mercer University, while James Thornton founded the local Thornton Academy. Jesse wrote poetry and a few examples survive int he SMMA collection to this day., (caption) The Thornton House in its original location: Before the High Museum of Art first moved and restored the home to its original condition in the late 1950's it looked like this due to renovations to keep up with architectural fashions including a Victorian style porch. Image from the Library of Congress Historic American Building Survey Collection.