George Webb Farm, House, State Highway 3/U.S. Highway 19, Sumter

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-37-A. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The George Webb House is contributing resource in a National Register district which consists of three historic farmhouses with their associated outbuildings and one non-historic house. The structures are located on approximately eight hundred acres of farmland historically associated with the farmhouses and the Webb family. The nearly level farmland, all recently under cultivation, is bounded by Muckaloochee Creek on the west and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks on the east. The houses are strung along a mile ofU. S. Highway 19 which bisects the land running north/south. The George Webb House is significant architecturally as a good example of Queen Anne style farmhouse.

Report Prepared By: Sharman Southall GDOT Architectural Historian Office of Environment and Location Georgia Department of Transportation Aviation Circle Atlanta, Georgia Date: January GEORGE WEBB FARM, HOUSE HABS GA-37-A (PAGE 2) Introduction To the south of Sumter City on both sides of U.S. Highway 19 is the Webb Family Farms. A National Register listed historic district since the structures associated with the farm will not be affected by the highway project but agricultural fields to the east of U.S. Highway 19 will be impacted. These terraced fields are shown in a aerial photograph of the area. Prior to the implementation of the project that will widen U.S. Highway 19, these fields were still used for agriculture but the terracing is less visible on more recent photographs.

Background The history of the Webb Family was documented for the National Register nomination and in a self-published family history available at the Georgia Archives. The following history is a summary using these sources. Shortly after the Treaty oflndian Springs was signed in which forced the Creek Indians to leave what would later become Sumter County, John Webb and his wife came to the area by covered wagon with the intention of farming. Land was a valuable resource in the southern United States, all the more important as cash crops such as tobacco, then cotton, grew in importance. John and his wife came from Robeson County, North Carolina via a network oflndian trails that crossed Georgia.

During this period, Augusta was the main "gateway" across the Savannah River with major trails branching out across the state. Several trails intersected in the area that would become Americus. It is said that John and his wife camped where the business section of Americus now stands before continuing south. The rich black soil combined with ready market access via the Flint River bordering the county on the east or the Chattahoochee River farther west made Sumter among the state's most prosperous Black Belt counties by the and John and his wife farmed the land before Sumter County was established in and before Americus was incorporated as the county seat in It is said that John, who tenant farmed several areas in the vicinity of Americus, cooked barbeque for the Land Lottery.

The Land Lottery was the system used to subdivide and sell the land acquired from the expulsion of the Native Americans. John Webb did not purchase land at that time and eventually left the area to go farther west as did three of his four children. During this period, many settlers passed through Georgia; some stayed and many moved on, always seeking more and better land. John Webb's son, John Ronaldson Webb stayed behind and with his bride, Amanda, purchased 125 acres on the eastern bank of Muckaloochee Creek, about 1 mile southwest of Sumter City. The Webb's built a two story log cabin on the land where they raised eleven of their sixteen children to adulthood.

In John Webb's widow, Amanda Webb divided 900 acres among her seven living sons who built homes along Highway 19 on their respective strips of farmland. The land, farmed as one piece until was farmed separately by each brother in the ensuing years. In the Webb family chose to list the farm on the National Register of Historic Places. Most of the district continues to be farmed by members of the Webb family; however, not all of the three farmhouses are occupied and many of the outbuildings have deteriorated in recent years. On the north edge of the district is the George Webb House, a Queen Anne style house with a central hallway plan.

The house has considerable detailing including a central turret, fish scale shingles and bargeboards, a wrap around porch, bay windows, stained glassed windows and GEORGE WEBB FARM, HOUSE HABS GA-37-A (PAGE 3) tall chimneys with corbelled caps. When the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in a collection of historic wood framed outbuildings including a mule barn, smoke house, wash house, chicken house, a carriage house and a dilapidated tenant cottage were included in the nomination. However, these buildings were no longer extant in The remaining historic buildings include the house and a small structure currently used as a barn. GEORGE WEBB FARM, HOUSE HASS No. GA- 37-A (Page 4) GA-37-A-10 GA-37-A-11 GA-37-A-8 GA-37-A-9 ~ .

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