Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter rented this large house on the outskirts of town from Formerly owned by Burr Thaddeus Wise, one of the founders of the Wise Sanitarium, this antebellum home is one of the oldest in the county and was known for years by Plains residents as the "haunted house." PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Date of erection: ca 2. Original and subsequent owners: The following is a chain of title to the land on which the structure stands. Deed books, wills and marriage licenses are located in the Sumter County Courthouse, Americus, Georgia. Deed October 8, recorded June 23, Deed Book K, page John C. Douglas of Sumter County sold to Matthew E.
Rylander of Bibb County three tracts of land, lots 48 and 49 in the District, and lot 17 in the District, for Each lot contained acres, for a total of 607 acres. Will written March 29, Matthew E. Rylander bequeathed to his wife, Sarah Catherine, all his property, including 500 acres and the house; it specifies that upon her death the property was to be distributed among the children. Deed October 21, Deed Book BB, page Sarah Rylander's heirs sold property referred to as the "Rylander Home Place" to Rodolphus Silas Oliver for MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 2) Deed October 5, recorded October 6, Deed Book RR, page Oliver sold all of lot 48, on which the house stands to E.R.
Stewart for four acres on the west side of the lot were donated to the county as a cemetery. Deed November 8, recorded November 8, Deed Book 24, page E.R. Stewart, sole heir to E.R. Stewart, sold 399 acres that included the house to Charles F. Crisp for Deed November 8, recorded October 29, Deed Book 29, page 51. Charles Crisp sold 399 acres to Sam P. Wise. Sam P. Wise died in leaving the property to his brothers Bowman J. and Burr Thaddeus. Charles Crisp and Burr Thaddeus Wise were the executors of the estate. Deed January 15, recorded January 19, Deed Book 29, pages Bowman J. Wise sold his half interest in.the 399 acres to his brother, Burr Thaddeus Wise.
Deed December 29, recorded January 4, Deed Book 47, page Wise sold 379 acres including the home and two workshops adjacent to the southwest corner of the house, to R.E. Sullivan under the condition that he be permitted to occupy the house until his death. Deed August 25, Deed Book page Raymond E. Sullivan sold property to Raymond Collins Sullivan. Deed December 21, recorded December 21, Deed Book page and Sullivan agree to allow Bertha Mae Mims Hewitt occupy the house for the rest of her life. 4. Alterations and additions: Originally, this house was probably bilaterally symmetrical with a detached kitchen in back, indicated by the remainder of the base of a chimney underneath the house under the area that probably served the kitchen.
Most antebellum houses were built with detached kitchens so that if a fire broke out, it would not consume the entire house; as well as reducing the unpleasant heat and odors during the long, hot summers. The most extensive alterations have been made on the southeast side of the house, where the original kitchen has been joined to the mains block and now forms the gable-end wing off the south side of the facade. A porch probably once spanned the rear facade, echoing the front porch. If so, the south side of this porch must MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 3) have been removed when the kitchen was attached.
The rest of the porch was enclosed to create a hallway that runs from the kitchen wing across the rear of the main block; a bathroom was added to the northeast side of this addition. Current occupant Mae Hewitt said these additions were made when Thaddeus Wise lived there in the Because the original porch was enclosed, another was added to the back of the addition, in the ell between the house rear and the kitchen wing. A chimney was added to the southwest wall of the house to serve a stove in the kitchen, which was built between the house and the original, detached kitchen. A door on the southwest facade, which perhaps led from the kitchen to another porch on the southwest side of the house, was filled in and replaced by a small window now located over the kitchen sink.
The Hewitts added a portico over the stoop on the northeast side of the porch. Richard Hewitt found the wood Doric columns on the portico in one of the barns on the property. B. Historic Context: This house was built in the mid-nineteenth century for Matthew Edmund Ryiander before the incorporation of the town of Plains.
A descendant of the Rheinlanders who immigrated from Germany in Ryiander was the first of his family to move to Sumter County; many of his living descendants remain in the area, including the prominent Ryiander family in Americus.2 Ryiander came to Sumter County from Bibb County in with his second wife, Sarah Catherine Brown and their six children; the eldest, John Emory being the only child from Rylander's first marriage to Nancy Gamble The Rylanders built their residence in a settlement which was then called Lebanon. Lebanon and two nearby settlements, Magnolia Springs and the Plains of Dura, the latter named after a place in the Book of Daniel, were founded after the removal of the Creek Indians from the area by the federal authorities under the direction of the Treaty of Washington.
Matthew Ryiander was a Methodist circuit rider and formed the Ryiander Methodist Church in the Plains of Dura. Although that church no longer exists, his efforts aided in the formation of a strong Methodist community in the area, and his descendants were active in the founding of the Plains Methodist Church. An M. E. Ryiander is also listed as a trustee at the Magnolia Male and Female Institutes in Magnolia Springs, where his eldest son and daughter-in- law, Mr. and John Emory, were instructors. The schools were located within yards of the natural waters at Magnolia Springs, and the instruction was closely bound to the teachings of the Methodist Church. An advertisement for the school in the Weekly Sumter Republican. November 21, stated: 1 Bertha Mae Hewitt, interview.
2 Jack Cox, History of Sumter County. MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 4) If an extensive and thorough course of instruction, competent instructions, freedom from vice and immorality and healthfulness of location not surpassed, if equaled in South Western Georgia, combined with the advantages of a Mineral Spring of well known medicinal properties do not entitle us to a liberal share of patronage, we cannot offer the public any higher inducements.3 The lives of persons in this small, close-knit town revolved around the school and the church.
A series of articles appearing in in the Americus Times Recorder, reveals the religious intensity of these early Sumter Countians.4 The outbreak of the Civil War interrupted this insular way of life and the lives of the residents of the Rylander House. John Emory served as an officer and was killed in the Civil War. Months later, his father, M.E. Rylander, then 56, wrote his will. He then owned twenty slaves, six mules or horses, twelve cattle, 100 hogs and sheep, a four-horse wagon, and 500 acres of land, which indicates that the home was part of a large and thriving plantation. Rylander specifically requested in his will that his estate was not to be divided or sold until after a declaration of peace between the Confederate and Union forces.
Rylander lived in the house until his death in and his wife remained there thirteen more years, until A deed recorded soon after Sarah Rylander's death declared that the estate was to be sold and the proceeds divided among the heirs, four-sixths to be divided among four surviving daughters (Mary Howell, Sarah Sirrine, Anna Markett, and Aughtrey Oliver); one-sixth to be divided among the three children of John Emory, and one-sixth to be divided among the children of the fifth daughter who died sometime before Rudolphus Silas Oliver Aughtry's husband, was authorized to act as the agent of the estate. Oliver was a prominent local figure. He owned several tracts of land in downtown Plains, served as a city councilman and presided over the thriving Oliver McDonald Mercantile Company.
In a deed dated October 20, the heirs decided to sell the home and property at a private sale, rather than a public auction, and the next day R. S. Oliver bought it for Although the Olivers owned the house, they never lived in it, but rented to a variety of people; their permanent residence was on Church Street in Plains. In they sold the house for to E. R. Stewart, the son of Matthew Rylander's daughter, Mary, and her first husband, James R. Stewart, who died in the Civil War.7 The home then 3 Advertisement, The Americus Times Recorder, November 22, 4 Pickett, "Recollections of the Plains of Dura," The Americus Times Recorder, a series of 13 articles written in 5 Deed Book BB, p. recorded November 24, 6 Deed Book BB, pp. 229 and 7 Deed Book RR, p.
MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 5) became known as the Stewart Place. People in Plains recall that the Stewarts built in their pasture a ram pump, a device that requires no source of outside power, running on its own water pressure.8 Mae Hewitt remembers that people passing the house on the dusty road to and from Plains could stop and get refreshment from the well. Ed Stewart died in and on November 8, E.R. Stewart, his sole heir, sold the property to Charles F. Crisp, a prominent landowner in the state and a former speaker of the house in Washington.9 The same day, Charles Crisp sold the house to his close friend, Wise, one of the three brothers who founded the Wise Sanitarium in Plains.
At this point, the hospital was no longer operating in Plains having been severely damaged by a fire, and the brothers Sam and Thad were working at the Wise Clinic in the nearby town of Americus. At this time, Sam may have moved some of the cabinets and furniture from the gutted hospital to the house. Two large cabinets from the Wise Sanitarium still stand in the kitchen where Mae Hewitt uses them as pantries. Hugh Carter remembered that the house was then occupied by Howard Pantall and his wife, who must have rented from Sam Wise. Tink Faircloth also lived in the house while Sam Wise owned it. Wise died in Having no heirs, he left his brother Thad Wise and Charles F. Crisp as the executors of his will.
Bowman and Thad Wise inherited the house, but Bowman sold his half of the inheritance to Thad in The Americus City Directory lists Thad Wise as a resident of Americus in but in it lists only his office on South Jackson Street in Americus, indicating that he probably moved into the house he bought in Plains, while still commuting for a time to Americus. Aerial photographs taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture show the vast number of improvements made to the property between and Many trees were cleared and at least five outbuildings were erected, including a large two- story bam that is in ruins today. According to Mae Hewitt, Thad used the back room behind the kitchen as an office and treated patients there even though he was officially retired. At 72, Thad Wise sold the house to R.E.
Sullivan in with the understanding that he could remain in the house until his death.1' Thad Wise died in and soon after, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter rented the house with their three sons. Rosalynn fondly described the home in her book First Lady from Plains: It was 104 years old, with bams in the back yard and wonderful open spaces where the boys could play. Years before, the house had been a handsome s Hugh Carter, Cousin Beedle and Cousin Hot. p. 14. 9 Deed Book 24, p. 10 Deed Book 29, pp. 11 Deed Book 47, p. MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 6) antebellum plantation home settled in the midst of a large peach farm, with magnolia trees and camellias that still bloomed in the front yard.
To add to the fascination, it had a legacy of being haunted, and the little boys were always looking and listening for ghosts!12 Plains residents have referred to the Rylander Home as the "haunted house" for as long as many of them can remember. "I don't know when I first heard it was haunted, I just always knew it," Rosalynn told the Atlanta Journal and Constitution Magazine.13 The most bizarre story she remembered was that a ghostly woman kept a lamp burning in the attic so soldiers would know where to hide during the Civil War. She also said that when she walked past the house on the way to visit her best friend, Jimmy's sister Ruth, she would walk through the woods on the other side of the street rather than go near the old house.
Before the Carters moved there, they often visited their friend, Thad Wise, at the house, and he enjoyed telling them the latest appearances of the house's ghostly inhabitants. He told of a little white dog that would come up on the porch, but would disappear if anyone reached down to pat it. Jimmy Carter also tells a spooky tale about the night that Thad Wise died. He said he and a friend were at the old doctor's house, sitting in the kitchen when suddenly and all at once, all of Dr. Wise's many dogs began to howl. They went to the old man's bedside to find that he had died. Inez Laster, who cooked for Dr.
Wise in the house, remembered regularly seeing a woman in a long white dress carrying "a light as big as the moon." When Sonny Faircloth tried to sleep in the north comer bedroom while visiting his brother, Tink, who lived in the house before Dr. Wise in the he reported that he was dragged off the bed in the middle of the night then put back in it. The ghost reputedly only harassed those who tried to spend the night in the so-called "haunted room." Faircloth's mother had reported hearing whispers in the room and later the family discovered that the last inhabitants in the house had left because of the ghosts. The house became even more mysterious during the Carter's tenure when their son Jack came across some loose bricks in the west chimney while playing in the attic.
As he removed the bricks and floorboards, he unearthed a secret room suspended between the attic floor and the ceiling of the bedroom closet in the "haunted room" below. After this discovery, Rosalynn recalls, the boys were convinced the house had ghosts. Although Rosalynn wrote that she loved living in the house, she confessed that it had its inconveniences such as open fireplaces rather than central heat, so it was uncomfortably cold in the winter. The Carters convinced the Sullivans to install gas space heaters, but winters were still cold, so the family was confined to the kitchen and adjoining den during these months. 12 Rosalynn Garter, First Lady from Plains. p. 40. 13 Jacqueline Cook, "Haunted House at Plains," p. 43.
MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 7) Also, the exposed pipes under the elevated house froze in the winter, despite the Carter's efforts to insulate them with old newspapers. One night the freezing pipes caused the entire bathroom sink to fall off the wall and topple to the floor.14 During the Carter's residency in the Rylander House, Jimmy and Rosalynn were working together at the Carter Peanut Warehouse. After three successful seasons, they had earned enough money to buy a house and tried to purchase the Rylander site from the Sullivans. When the Sullivans refused to sell, the Carters built the house on Woodland Drive and moved there in Within weeks of the Carter's departure, Richard J. and Mae Hewitt began renting the home.
Richard Hewitt died in and Mae now has an agreement with the Sullivans allowing her to reside their until her death. PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement: 1. Architectural character: Antebellum Greek Revival plantation house. Simply and solidly built, its distinctive form and subtle classical detailing remains largely intact. 2. Condition of fabric: Good. B. Description of Exterior: 1. Overall dimensions: This one-story house has a steep side-facing spraddle roof covering a large unfinished attic and extending out at a shallower slope over front and back porches. An approximately 26* x 18' gable-roofed wing extends back from the south side of the southeast facade.
An L~shaped back porch is inset in the juncture of the wing and the southeast facade and spans the entire northeast side of the wing and the southeast side of the house. Excepting the extending wing, which is not original, the structure is bilaterally symmetrical. The northwest/front facade is approximately 46' and is five bays long; the northeast/side facade is approximately 48' and is four bays. Originally, the opposite side and the back facades would have also had four and five bays, respectively, but since the alterations, the southeast facade has three bays and the southwest has six. 2. Foundations: The house is raised about 3* off the ground on masonry, wood, and concrete piers. Historically the house stood on unhewn tree- trunk posts.
Several of these trunks remain, although most have rotted 14 Carter, pp. MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 8) and have gradually been replaced with masonry or concrete piers. 3. Walls: The walls are constructed of lapped pine boards painted white. These boards are aged, warped and are not very airtight. In the attic, where there are no interior finished walls, sunlight can be seen through the spaces of the exterior cladding. Also in the attic, there are several holes bored in the walls perhaps made by birds or rodents. A section of wall inside of the back porch is clad with simple drop boards painted white. 4. Structural system, framing: Wood frame. 5. Porches, stoops: The house has large screened-in porches on the front and rear facades.
The approximately 8' x 46' full front porch spans the north facade, its roof supported by six classical wood posts. A balustrade with rectangular balusters surrounds the porch inside the screening and intersects the house at classically inspired newel posts. The screens in wood frames added outside of the balustrade feature six three-over-three panels per bay. The ell-shaped back porch has no balustrade and irregularly shaped screen panels. Five posts support the roof, three on the approximately 20' southeast side of the porch, two on the approximately 18' northeast. A classical portico with a gable roof supported by wood Doric columns was added over the stoop on the northeast side of this porch. 6. Chimneys: Two interior chimneys serve four first-floor fireplaces.
There are also attic openings in the chimneys on the sides nearest the gables, which may have been intended for later fireplace openings. The chimneys are rectangular with the sides flaring out toward the top of the stack, constructed of brick parged with concrete. Thad Wise installed two metal flues in each of the chimneys when he converted the house to oil heat. These visibly rise from each of the stacks. A small exterior gable-wall chimney on the southwest facade was also added by Wise to serve a stove in the kitchen; it is no longer used. The house had an additional fireplace on the southeast wall of the room that is now used as a kitchen. This fireplace and chimney have been removed except for the foundation which is still underneath the house. 7. Openings: a.
Doorways and doors: Typical of many antebellum houses, there is a large central entry in the front and back, joined by a wide hall running the depth of the space. The double wood front and back doors each have four panels set off by moldings. The front entry MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 9) has four-light sidelights over rectangular-base panels and a ten- light transom above. Historically, the back-door frame was identical to the front, but it was moved to a smaller opening so the last transom light had to be cut to fit giving the entire composition a somewhat awkward, asymmetrical appearance. b.
Windows: Historically, all of the first-story windows featured six- over-six-light double-hung sash, with four windows on every facade and four to each room. The northwest facade is the only one that retains this original scheme. The original four windows on the first floor of the northeast facade were amended with a newer, one-over-one-light double-hung sash in the first bay, which corresponds with the added bathroom. The original four windows also remain on the southwest facade, with the addition of a two-over-two-light double-hung sash in the fifth bay over the kitchen sink, and four-over-four-light double-hung sash in the fifth and sixth bays. The southeast side of the gable-end wing has two similar four-over-four-light double-hung sash.
The windows on the southeast facade facing out to the back porch are modern one-over-one-light double-hung sash like that in the bathroom. Ornate wrought-iron burglar bars were added to all of the first-floor windows. The attic has four windows in all; two on the northeast facade and two on the southwest facade. These four-over-four-light double-hung wood sash have been backed by plywood boards. 8. Roof: a. Shape, covering: The spraddle side-facing gable roof has a double slope, the steeper descending from the ridge over the house and the shallower-pitch sections covering the front and back porches. On the latter side, the roof of the main block is obscured by the ell roof, which is gable with the dual pitch on the interior slope.
The roof was originally covered with cedar shingles that are still visible from the inside; it is now clad with diamond-shaped composition shingles. b. Cornice, eaves: The roof has shallow, boxed eaves with fascia and metal chipboards. The gable ends have crown moldings and slight returns. C. Description of Interior: 1. Floor plans: The house is a four-room central-hall plan typical of many antebellum plantation houses. Detailing in the room on the north corner MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 10) suggests that it was historically the parlor or receiving room. Behind it is Mae Hewitt's bedroom, which has a large closet under the attic stairwell on the southwest wall.
The front room on the west corner is known as the "haunted room/' behind which is a guest bedroom. There are two additional rooms on the southwest side in the extended wing. The kitchen is directly behind the guest room, and behind it is a storage room. At the southeast end of the main hall, at the original site of the back door, there is a hall running along the southeast wall of the house that leads to a small bathroom. 2. Stairways: A straight enclosed stairway leads to the attic of the house. A door on the southeast wall of the back hall leads to the flight that rises to the northwest. This was originally the exterior door in the fourth bay of the southeast facade. Walls on either side of the wood risers are of heavy pine panels. 3.
Flooring: The flooring throughout is uniform heart pine tongue-and- groove boards running northwest to southeast. A linoleum "carpet" covers the floor in what is now the kitchen, and the bathroom features linoleum rile. The attic also has an incomplete pine tongue-and-groove planking. 4. Wall and ceiling finish: Walls and ceilings are 10" pine boards, the wall boards laid horizontally. The two northeast rooms and the halls are painted with a thin coat of dark blue through which the wood grain is seen. The front room on the southwest side is painted a pinkish brown, the room behind it is light blue, and the kitchen is beige. The walls of the back room on the southwest side are lined with shelves installed by Thad Wise.
Ceilings are constructed of pine boards and are 14' tall except in the bathroom where the ceiling is lower and covered with tile. 5. Doorways and doors: Large four-panel doors lead from the hall into each of the four rooms. Four-panel doors also adjoin the haunted room with the guest room, Mae Hewitf s room with the living room, and the kitchen with the guest room. A two-panel door leads from the kitchen to the storage room. A four-panel door leads to a closet on the southeast wall of the haunted room to the right of the fireplace. A six-panel door leads to a closet on the northeast side of the fireplace in Hewitf s bedroom, and a heavier four-panel door on the southeast wall of her room leads to the back hall.
This door replaced a window that was removed when the back porch was converted to the back hall. To the left of this door is another four-panel door leading to the attic; this was originally an exterior door. 6. Decorative features and trim: A simple crown molding marks the MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 11) juncture of the walls and ceilings throughout the house except for the parlor/living room where it is more ornate. Also in this space, the door and window trim have ornamental comer blocks. Although somewhat chaste, these details indicate that this room was used for formal purposes. Both the haunted room and the guest room have chair-rail moldings. All the rooms have approximately 8" baseboards.
A plain yet elegant pediment consisting of two hand-dressed boards meeting at a wide angle, ornaments the wall over the front entrance. 7. Hardware: The lock boxes on the front door are original. Rather than the two doors locking together, the northeast door, when closed, fits into the southwest door; which can be locked with two bolts. A spring- bolt atop the door is operated by a chain pull and slides into the door frame; a bolt on the bottom of the door slides into the floor. 8. Mechanical equipment: a. Heating: Four fireplaces in the four main rooms historically heated the house. The detached kitchen also had a fireplace, which has been removed. Thad Wise added a fuel-oil heating system when he lived there and installed metal flues inside the chimneys.
The gas-heating system, which is still in use, was installed when the Carters occupied the home. b. Lighting: The house was probably electrified in the when the rural-electrification program began in the area. All of the rooms have ceiling fixtures. c. Plumbing: Water for the house comes from a well located about 50 yards behind the house. Mae Hewitt claims that at one time there was a well on the back porch. The Stewarts installed a ram pump in the yard in the The bathroom was installed in the late probably by Thad Wise. It includes a sink, shower, and toilet. D. Site: 1. General setting and orientation: The house is about a mile from the heart of Plains and faces northwest onto Cemetery Road. It is set back from the road about and is approached from the east side by a dirt driveway.
Pine trees have been planted around the property in a land- reclamation effort. 2. Historic landscape design: Matthew Rylandefs will suggests that this property was originally a thriving plantation, which must have included MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No. GA-2205 (Page 12) slave quarters, barns, stables and pigpens. Rosalynn Carter mentions in her book that there was also a peach orchard; in support of this theory, thousands of old peach baskets litter the airspace under the house. Aerial photographs taken from to the present show that by the the farm was poorly kept, but was revived through the with the addition of may outbuildings. A photograph shows at least ten outbuildings surrounding the house.
Mae Hewitt recounts how most of these buildings have deteriorated and fallen down over the years. Only two, a barn and a shed, remain standing. 3. Outbuildings: a. Shed: A small shed that Mae Hewitt claims is original, stands about 40' east of the house. It is a rectangular front-facing gable structure with a shed on the southwest side. It has a brick foundation and is constructed of clapboards with a metal roof. b. Two-story barn: A large barn, constructed between is located toward the east side of the property about from the house. It is a rectangular front-facing gable structure with shed- roofed wings on either side. Although deteriorated, it has clapboard walls and tongue-and-groove floors on both the first and second levels.
A central hall with a wood floor runs through the center of the structure; two raised rooms on either side would have been level with the flat bed of a wagon or truck driven through the center. Each of the bins have thick doors with large metal hinges and wood door fasteners. PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION A. Early Views: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Aerial photographs: 10- Maps are located at Andersonville National Historic Site, Andersonville, Georgia. B. Interviews: Mae Hewitt, present occupant of house, interview by Elizabeth Barthold, July 12, Plains, Georgia. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, interview by Elizabeth Barthold, August 9, Plains, Georgia. MATTHEW EDMUND RYLANDER HOUSE (Jimmy Carter Interim House) HABS No.
GA-2205 (Page 13) C.
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