Casulon Plantation, Good Hope Georgia
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Casulon is an excellent example of an antebellum plantation complete with many original outbuildings intact. Owned by only two families throughout its existence, the house and surrounding 10,000 acres were bought by the Armstrong Cork Company in 1968 for use in an extensive forestry program. The company donated the house and 15 acres to the Morgan County Historical Society in order to preserve the remnants of the old plantation.
Casulon was built by Joseph Moss, a pioneer Walton County citizen who acquired the land lot on which the house sits in 1821. The house appears on tax records in 1825. By 1840, Moss owned 600 acres of land, which he then sold to James W. Harris. The Harris family and their descendants made the plantation their home for over 125 years.
James Harris, a wealthy landowner, eventually acquired 6,000 acres of property and 154 slaves, a notable feat even for a Southern planter. Harris' youngest, daughter, Susan, inherited the house and property, and the family home became the scene of her wedding to General James Stoddard Boynton in 1883. At the time of her marriage (her first), Susan Harris was forty-six and her groom was fifty.
Boynton was a colorful figure who figured greatly in Georgia politics. In addition to fighting gallantly in the Civil War, Boynton also served as president of the State Senate and, for a short time, as governor of the State upon the death of then-Governor Alexander Stephens in 1883.
Susan Harris Boynton, having no children of her own, willed the property to her niece, Sally Maud Jones, and nephew, Walter H. Jones. Sally Maud willed her portion of the estate to her two nephews. It was the surviving nephew, Bannon Jones, who sold all of the property, then estimated at 10,000 acres to the Armstrong Cork Company in 1968. The company wished to save the house and subsequently donated the building and surrounding outbuildings to the Morgan County Historical Society. Casulon, once a thriving Southern plantation, represents an integral part of 19th-century Georgia.
Building Description
Casulon, a plantation house in the Greek Revival style, is located in Walton County, Georgia, four miles east of Good Hope. Built by Joseph Moss in the early 1820s, the dwelling served as the nucleus of a vast plantation that included numerous outbuildings and up to 6,000 acres prior to the Civil War.
The two-story, white-frame rectangular structure with sash windows and black shutters includes a columned porch that spans the width of the house. Both the home and the portico are contained under a steep hipped roof. The six Doric columns of the portico are fluted with unusual capitals that employ a ring of carved dentils. These dentils are repeated on the entablature above the columns.
The building contains a superb entranceway that includes side lights with a triple row of thin panes and a transom light containing an inverted fan design. The entrance, with double doors, is surrounded by delicate, carved moulding in a double set of pilasters, and an entablature.
The plan of Casulon is in the familiar four up, four down design with central hall and side staircase with landing. Each of the rooms contains wainscoting and a chair rail. Mantels are in the Adam style.
The second-floor plan reflects that of the first. Windows and door frames are simpler upstairs, as are the mantels. A suite with bath and sitting rooms has been added in a wing to the rear of the second floor, in addition to a storage closet at the front of the hall (c.1918).
There are several interior features that are unusual and worth noting. The wainscoting in the dining room has panels painted to simulate fine inlaid wood, while the mantel in the opposite room has an inlay made to look like marble. On the second floor, baseboards are painted to resemble washed stones. Doors opening off of the downstairs hallway contain delicately moulded door frames with vertical grooves, and stars carved in each of the upper corners. There are twelve stars in all, while a thirteenth star may be found carved into the stone of the garden walk. The explanation for the existence and placement of the stars is not known; however, they may represent the 13 colonies. Georgia, the 13th state admitted to the Union, may be symbolized by the 13th star placed conspicuously in the garden.
The property contains several outbuildings in addition to the main house. These buildings include a barn, well house, tool house, and two frame slave quarters. The outline of a gazebo can be found in the garden, and the remains of the garden wall are still visible. The family cemetery is to the left of the house, while the slave cemetery is located to the right behind the slave quarters.
The Morgan County Historical Society is in the process of restoring Casulon.

First floor mantel (1974)

Facade; house facing north (1974)
