Rural Home

It was looted but ultimately withstood Sherman's March to the Sea during the American Civil War and functioned as a family home until the 1970s.

Rural Home was built in the late 1820s or early 1830s on land that had been taken from the Muscogee people due to the Indian Removal Act.

[1] Seven of the ten children survived to adulthood; Ann Elizabeth, Agnes Bridget, Adele, Katherine, Isabelle, Sarah, and Mary Ellen.

[1] Eleanor disliked living on the plantation, which expanded to 1,000 acres, reportedly telling a granddaughter that she "spent all of her young married life in.. a small African village" over which she exercised "care and attention".

Fitzgerald did replace the simple portico at the front of the house, adding a full-width porch, columns, and Italianate trim.

[1] During Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864, Union troops arrived at Rural Home,[1] where they destroyed or consumed $60,000 worth of cotton, produce, and other property.

[1] Fitzgerald's daughter, Ann Elizabeth, allegedly was granted protection of the house from the invading Union Army by General Sherman.

[1] In 1873, a two-story balloon-framed addition with six rooms and high ceilings, laid out in an L-shaped plan, were added to the north end of the original house.

[1] Finishing with lapped siding and featuring end gables with elaborate baseboards, the house became an example of Eastlake architecture.

[1] The plantation suffered major losses in 1919 with the boll weevil invasion throughout the Georgia piedmont region, which killed much of the crop.

[1] Ann Elizabeth attempted to return to the house to take up residence after living as a widow, per the terms of her father's will, but her sisters and niece prevented it.

[1] In 1928, Eugenia Gress, a daughter of Ann Elizabeth, got quit-claim deeds from the other Fitzgerald heirs, paid her aunt and cousin $5,000, and took possession of the house.

[1] The house and other buildings were removed from the original site following a survey by the Historic Preservation Section of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in November 1977.