Fannin-Truitt-Handley House, Woodshed, 2301 Whitesville Road, La Grange

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2364-A. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The woodshed is a one and a half story wood frame structure with exterior walls made up of a series of geometrically-shaped arches. The arches are placed on brick piers. The metal roof is gabled and has an opening on either end for access to the storage area. The shed is composed of two bays capable of storage of wood and farm machinery. The cladding material is composed of wide planks and drop siding above the eave line. HISTORY: The woodshed was built in by John M. Handley. The building was constructed for utilitarian purposes and remained in operation, primarily as a storage shed, until recently. The Handley Plantation lies on both sides of Whitesville Road. The woodshed is located on the southwest corner of Whitesville Road and Orchard Hill Road, facing the Handley residence.

A store, moved to its present location, is situated behind (west) the woodshed. The Fannin-Truitt-Handley House and property have a long history associated with farming. The present house, constructed c. was probably built and owned by Colonel James w. Fannin in its original configuration. A slave cabin documented in a county study, which is no longer standing, may have dated from the Fannin family occupancy of these lands. When Alfred Handley purchased the land there was a row of these slave cabins on the property. Before the Civil war, c. FANNIN-TRUITT-HANDLEY HOUSE, WOODSHED HABS No. GA-2364-A (page 2) the Nathan Truitt family lived on and farmed the lands between Whitesville Road and Hamilton Road.

Both the Truitts and the Fannin families are buried in the Fannin family cemetery associated with the property. The Fannin property was bought in by Alfred Bowen Handley, originally from Randolph County. The Handley Plantation was apparently a large operation encompassing over 800 acres of farm, forest, and pasture lands. Tenant houses, depicted on a plat map, date from the Handley ownership of the property and were built approximately Tenant farming was a common practice among large southern landowners in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. James M. Handley inherited the house and lands from his father Alfred B. Handley.

In addition to remodeling the house, James Handley built a store which functioned as a cotton warehouse and gin, operated a dairy, a grist mill, cut and sold stove wood from his forested land, and tenanted out much of his farm land with the help of an overseer. After his death in at 36 years, his widow continued the farming operations as well as the dairy and the store.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2364-A. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

William H. Davidson, Pine Log and Greek Revival: Houses and People of Three Counties in Georgia and Alabama (Alexander City, AL: Outlook Publishing Company, Interviews Claude Handley, in Atlanta, by Hal Cole, Sarah Handley, in Atlanta, by Maureen Carroll, and Claude Handley, in LaGrange, by Maureen Carroll. HISTORIAN: Maureen Carroll Transportation Planner I Georgia Department of Transportation Aviation Circle Atlanta, Georgia DATE: December,