A Trip Back Through Time

This week I'm participating for the first time in a new meme--Metamorphosis Monday, hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch, to show off "before" and "after" pictures. I have a thrifty remake project that I'm planning to work on when we go home to Louisiana in a couple of weeks, but I couldn't wait, so I'm sharing simething a little different.

This weekend was supposed to be a 2-3 day road trip, sort a last hurrah of the summer before taking our son back to Louisiana for his next semester at college. We unfortunately had to cancel our plans for this weekend, but we decided to take a day trip to see some historical Cherokee sites in northern Georgia.



We went to see the Chief Vann house near Chatsworth, Georgia. This house was completed in 1804 by Joseph Vann, a wealthy business man and Cherokee leader. He established what became the most prosperous plantation in the Cherokee Nation. After his death, his son Joseph inherited the house, and became even more wealthy than his father. Many influential people stayed in the house through the years, including at least one US President. Joseph Vann and his family owned the house until the 1830's, when almost the entire Cherokee Nation was forced to move west by state and federal troops along what became known as the Trail of Tears.

The Dill family owned the house for a time--this was taken in 1898

(click to see an enlargment)

This is what the house looked like in the early 1950's, before restoraion.




And this is what the same porch looks like today, after restoration!

Joseph Vann was wealthy enough to send his household goods west on the riverboat that he owned, where they were later lost to fire in the new house he built in Indian Territory, in what's now Oklahome. The furniture on display is a combination of period and reproduction pieces, true to the era and matching written discriptions of what the rooms looked like. This huge mantel, however, is original to the house, and has been restored to it's authentic colors from many layers of paint. The colors are symbolic--blue for sky and red for the red clay dirt--and the green and gold have escaped my memory for right now!


I have a few other shots from the interior, including the dining room, which I'll share for Tablescape Thursday!

Until next time...