This Plantation has been owned by only 2 Families since 1850

Davis-Felton Plantation - Mossy Hill, Henderson Georgia

Date added: May 11, 2024

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William Mazyck Davis (1820-1870) moved from South Carolina to Houston County, Georgia, in the early 1850s in search of new cotton land. In 1854, he purchased the major portion of his new plantation, and by 1864, he owned all of the property. Davis family tradition records that all lumber used in the construction of the main house was cut on the property and allowed to season for several years. In 1859, Davis moved his family to the plantation, which was called Mossy Hill.

The main house is a unique, early, and virtually unaltered example of domestic Italianate architecture of which very few survive from the pre-Civil War period in Georgia. Few Italianate plantation houses were built in the state during this time, and it has been suggested that the Classical tradition retained its dominance during this period because of its relationship to the increasingly adamant and strained defense of slavery. The Davis-Felton house thus survives as an excellent example of a little-practiced style in pre-Civil War Georgia.

According to Davis family tradition, William Mazyck Davis designed the house and oversaw its construction by his own skilled slaves and the slaves of his brother Edward. The design is not dissimilar to several in Andrew Downing's The Architecture of Country Houses (1850).

Davis was a major planter in Houston County. The slave census of 1860 records that he owned 94 slaves, while the 1864 tax digest lists the number of slaves as 110. During the Civil War, Davis organized and served as captain of Company H, Henderson Rangers, 45^th Regiment.

Immediately after the war, the Davis family, like many other planter families, suffered financial difficulties. Davis was declared bankrupt at the time of his death, and his land was sold in February of 1870 to his son, William Richardson Davis. The property was owned by the Davis family until 1926, when it was purchased by William H. Felton. It thus is an intact plantation owned by only two families since the 1850s. The land has been in continuous agricultural production since that time.

The changing agricultural production of this plantation records an important evolution in Georgia agricultural history. Davis purchased the land in the 1850s for a cotton plantation. Although there were other foodstuffs grown on the land, primarily for self-sufficiency, the agricultural censuses during the late-nineteenth century reveal that cotton was the primary cash crop, and that there were no orchards on the property. By the 1920s, the boll weevil had spread into central Georgia, making cotton a very risky crop. Wheat and peaches replaced cotton as the primary agricultural products. In the early 1970s, soybeans were introduced. The agricultural evolution of this plantation traces the broader agricultural evolution of middle Georgia.

No formal archaeological survey of the property is noted in the literature. However, during a brief walkover of the property, at least one concentration of projectile points and worked stone material was observed. A tenant on the property also pointed out two rock shelters which he reported as having been associated with prehistoric Indians. Although not documented in the available maps or literature, historic archaeological resources were also noted by this tenant, which includes the site of slave cabins, a detached kitchen for the main house, and an auxiliary farm complex.

Site Description

The Davis-Felton Plantation contains the main house and associated outbuildings, small peach-packing plant, several tenant houses and prehistoric and historic archaeological components on 1,772-1/2 acres of land. This acreage is the historic acreage of the plantation that has been intact since 1864.

The main house of the Davis-Felton Plantation is a two-story, Italianate structure. The northern (front) elevation is three bays across. Entrance is gained through the central recessed bay with palladian motifs. The east front bay is dominated by the ground-floor, full-story projecting bay window. The second story is capped by a triangular gable. The west front bay contains the third-story tower typical of Italianate Villa design. Also typical of this type of architecture, the massing is irregular. The plan is essentially L-shaped, with the western elevation extended in the rear of the house to form storage area on the ground floor and extra bedrooms on the second story. The eastern rectangular mass contains two bedrooms over double parlors. Across the central hall from the double parlors are the dining room and study, while across from the two bedrooms on the second story are the master bedroom and small bedroom. Stairs leading to the tower room are in this front small bedroom.

Detailing is essentially renaissance, marked by corner pilasters, dentil molding and brackets under the eaves and the three front window entablatures. Interior detailing includes ear molding which frames the doors. Also noteworthy is the trompe L'oiel stenciling designed to look like wainscotting, which backs the small straight staircase leading into the tower room. The central entrance staircase which leads to the second story is a graceful reflex curve backed by a two-story curved wall.

Behind the main house is a board-and-batten, 18'x16' smokehouse, Farther back is a more recent wooden barn. To the west of the house is a small, 1930s peach-packing plant operation that includes several wooden structures and a concrete silo. Also on the property are several wooden tenant houses built before 1925 and a more recent concrete-block house with trailer, occupied by the manager of the plantation.

The plantation land itself is gently rolling and is mainly planted in soybeans and peach trees with some timber.