Homestead Plantation, Port Allen Louisiana

Date added: March 20, 2025

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The property where Homestead sits was acquired by John Hill in 1866 from the widow of Senator Andrew Barrow at a sheriff's sale, and is likely where the first sugar cane in Louisiana after the Civil War was planted. The office building dates from the plantation time period. The current home was constructed by John Hill's son George in 1915 on the site of an earlier raised cottage residence. While John Hill passed away five years before the home was built, he spent his life on the site and died in his office which still stands at Homestead. George Hill took over the running of the plantation after his father's death and did so until retiring in 1921. He resided at Homestead until his death in 1941. George Hill's grandson, also George Hill, remains in the home to this day.

John Hill was an industrialist, sugar planter, philanthropist and benefactor of Louisiana State University. His son George Hill continued his legacy as a planter, benefactor and philanthropist, also becoming involved in local politics until his death at Homestead in 1941. The Hill family was significant in the social history of West Baton Rouge and the city of Port Allen and has resided on the Homestead property since 1866. Homestead is as an early high-style example of Neo-Classical architecture in West Baton Rouge Parish, and the only in Port Allen. The Neo-Classical style became popular in Louisiana in the late 19^th Century for commercial and religious buildings, but soon became popular for residences as well. Homestead architects Albert Toledano and Victor Wogan are credited with designing many notable classical revival buildings in south Louisiana.

Port Allen is a small city in West Baton Rouge Parish with a population of about 5,000. The area was developed as a port when the terminus of the Baton Rouge, Gross Tete and Opelousas Railroad around 1853, but was not officially incorporated until 1916. Port Allen was officially designated a city in 1923. Although the population of Port Allen has always remained low compared to neighboring Baton Rouge, it was home to several successful sugar plantations in the early 1900s, but now is mostly composed of new commercial buildings, small vernacular cottages and bungalows, and newer residences.

John Hill was born in Old Monkland Parish in Lanarkshire, Scotland, in March of 1824, and spent his early years working in the family iron business before voyaging to America in July of 1844. Hill traveled around the Northeast and Canada before arriving in New Orleans in 1845. Although Hill was intending to return to Scotland, he saw an opportunity to develop Baton Rouge and settled there. By 1848, twenty-four-year-old Hill partnered with Mr. J. William Markham to start an iron foundry on North Street in Baton Rouge. In 1851, Hill met Catherine McPhail of Glasgow and they were married by the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. In addition to the foundry, John Hill also owned a sawmill on the bank of the Mississippi River and operated a steam-powered ferry boat called the Sunny Side that made three trips daily to connect the terminus of the Baton Rouge, Gross-Tete and Opelousas Railroad in what is now Port Allen to Baton Rouge.

John and Catherine Hill built a lavish two-story home at 638 Lafayette Street in Baton Rouge which was the first home to bear the name Homestead. The building no longer exists, but the brass plaque bearing the home's name now adorns the gate at the entrance of the 1915 home of the same name in Port Allen. Hill applied to become a United States citizen in 1856, but the Civil War disrupted the process and he never gained citizenship. Although Hill made cannonballs in his foundry for the Confederacy after Louisiana seceded, all of his commercial properties were destroyed by Northern forces in 1863. By this time, Hill had moved his family across the river to West Baton Rouge Parish near a plantation owned by Abraham Lobdell.

After the war in February of 1866, Hill purchased a defunct sugar plantation at a sheriffs sale in Port Allen from the widow of Senator Alexander Barrow. Hill called this property Homestead Plantation and began successfully cultivating sugar cane, despite challenges in finding labor and funding. Hill quite possibly planted the first sugar in the parish after the Civil War, and continuously added adjacent properties to his plantation until he held 2,000 acres of land. He managed Homestead Plantation until his death in 1910 at the age of eighty-six. He and Catherine had six children during their marriage, raising five to adulthood.

Besides his financial endeavors, John Hill was also known as a generous philanthropist. Hill had acquired a cast iron sugar kettle used by the father of Louisiana sugar cane Etienne de Bore' in 1795 and donated it to Louisiana State University where it remains on display. John Hill's eldest son, John Hill, Jr. was employed as faculty and on the Board of Supervisors at Louisiana State University when he unexpectedly died at the age of thirty-eight in 1893. The university was in great need of a library as they were using two old powder magazines for that purpose, and John Hill, Sr., made an extremely generous donation of $33,000 for a library to be built in honor of his son John, Jr. and the Hill Memorial Library was completed in 1903. The original Hill Memorial Library was replaced with a new building of the same name when the LSU campus was moved. The original Hill Library served as the State Library of Louisiana until it was also replaced with a new building on the same site. Hill's generosity was further displayed in 1874 when he helped his former slave Alexander Banes purchase land in West Baton Rouge Parish that would become a three-street community called "Sunrise." The community reached its population peak around 1906 when it served as the port for the train ferry for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, but is now an industrial area.

John Hill Sr.'s fifth child and third son, George Hill, was born in 1858 in Baton Rouge and raised at Homestead Plantation. He was actually the second son named George to be born to John and Catherine Hill. The first George was a twin to John Hill, Jr. and died before his first birthday. George Hill attended Louisiana State University and Washington and Lee University in Virginia before returning to West Baton Rouge Parish to join his father in the plantation industry. George became very successful by rebuilding failing plantations in the area. When his father died in 1910, George sold his personal lands to manage his father's 2,000-acre Homestead Plantation. George married Carrie Lee Taylor of Montgomery, Alabama, in 1907 and they had two children, Catherine and John. Sometime between 1910 and 1915, the original raised cottage home was removed from its raised brick base and moved to a lot further south along the levee. The wood frame structure has been further altered since the move, but remains occupied by members of the Hill family.

Like his older brother John, George Hill also served on the Board of Supervisors at Louisiana State University for over twenty years. He also served as a Director of the Bank of Baton Rouge for almost thirty years and was a very active member of the Democratic Party. During World War I, George was involved in drives for the sale of government war bonds and Red Cross work. He served as chairman for the parish committee charged with selling War Savings Stamps and raised funds to erect the Memorial Tower for the soldiers who lost their lives in the war on the campus of LSU.

Both John and George Hill were lifelong members and benefactors of the First Presbyterian Church. After the death of John in 1910, the First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge constructed a Sunday school annex behind the sanctuary (no longer extant) called the Hill Memorial Annex that was dedicated to John and Catherine Hill. George Hill helped to further the establishment of the First Presbyterian Church in Port Allen by constructing a chapel from materials removed from the original Creole cottage Homestead house, and donating $35,000 for the enlargement of the church around 1920.

John and George Hill were not only wealthy businessmen, but also philanthropists who furthered academic and religious institutions in West Baton Rouge parish. While many of their contributions can no longer be physically seen, they are apparent in the continued success of the institutions they supported. Henry E. Chambers memorializes John Hill in his A History of Louisiana, expressing:

John Hill, a man of the fine personal characteristics that almost invariably denote the true Scotchman, honored his adopted State of Louisiana by his earnest and worthy life and large achievement, and it is to be recorded that few other citizens of Louisiana have shown as distinct and noble liberality in the support of education and of the ideals that represent the best in the scheme of human existence."

Chambers also profiles George Hill, who was still alive at the time of his writing. He states:

George Hill, a retired sugar planter residing at Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, is well upholding the honors of a family name, which represents more than passing distinction in connection with Louisiana history … As a citizen and man of affairs Mr. Hill has shown the same splendid ideals of personal stewardship as did his honored father, and his aid and influence are to be counted upon in the advancing of measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community.

Homestead Plantation House is an excellent example of high style Neoclassical architecture. Homestead was built as a plantation estate and designed by noted New Orleans architects Albert Toledano and Victor Wogan, who were involved in the designing of the New Orleans Grunewald Hotel (now Roosevelt) in 1893 and the Beaux Arts Hotel Monteleone in 1907. Homestead is unique in the area as a Neoclassical plantation home.

Classical Architecture was very popular in America in the early 19^th Century, notably Federal and Greek Revival styles, which both involved looking to buildings of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. Classicism continued to gain popularity through the 19^th Century, and became the theme of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Many well-known architects designed buildings for the fair combining details of early classical styles into an emerging style called Neoclassical. America was in a period of renaissance, experiencing a new era of self-confidence and wealth, and was reflected in this eclectic style. Many buildings in America up to this point were designed and built by carpenter-builders copying from pattern books, but the World's Fair inspired academic study of classical architecture. Classically trained architects became the choice for the designs of public buildings, and American students enrolled in the Ecole de Beaux Arts in France and in newly formed architecture departments at American Universities. In 1860, Louisiana native Henry Hobson Richardson became the second American student to enroll at the Ecole and in 1894, Tulane opened its architecture school. By 1900, Neoclassical architecture was a dominant style for new buildings in the United States.

In Louisiana, the transition to the Neoclassical style from Federal, Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival began around 1895 and was mostly seen in residences. By the 1920s, a more refined neoclassical architecture was seen in government, religious and educational architecture throughout the state including buildings at Louisiana State University. These buildings were large in scale, symmetrical and rectangular in plan. These structures were often academically accurate and detailed. By 1925, Neoclassical architecture became more restrained and less detailed, and slowly declined in popularity though 1950. In 1930, Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long constructed a new governor's mansion in Baton Rouge in the Neoclassical style with a dominant full-height portico with classical columns and details. Character-defining features of Neoclassical buildings include symmetrical facades with full-height entry porches supported by classical columns, roof-line balustrades, and cornices with dentils and wide frieze bands. Interior plans include central hallways, four square configurations and U-shaped plans.

Homestead is an early high-style Neoclassical residence in Louisiana, and still retains some Greek Revival elements (rectangular transoms) found in the early transitional period of the style. While the portico is not pedimented, it does feature large classical columns, dentils and was originally topped with a roof balustrade. The house features rectangular massing, and is almost completely symmetrical. Although the loss of the second-floor gallery at the front elevation is unfortunate, the full-height porch is still a feature of the Neoclassical style. A wide, detailed frieze band extends under the cornice and the dentil moldings continue around the roofline and into the side gables. The details on the balustrade at the second-floor Juliet balcony and in the projecting brackets at the porte cochere and rear porch are unique and reflect influence from Chinese Chippendale architecture, popular in the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries in the United States. The intersecting muntin details in the transoms at the front entry can also be seen in the Lorraine Apartments at 8000 St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, also designed by Albert Toledano.

Toledano started his architectural education in the office of Ecole des Beaux Arts-educated architect James Freret. He then formed architecture firm Sully and Toledano with Thomas Sully in 1883 and practiced under that name until 1893, when he partnered with F. Reusch as Toledano and Reusch. In 1900, he joined with Victor Wogan and in 1914, added Joseph Bernard to the firm, forming Toledano, Wogan and Bernard. Including predecessor and successor offices, Toledano, Wogan and Bernard practiced in the New Orleans area for over seventy years. Besides noted commercial buildings such as St. Anthony of Padua Church and School and buildings on the first campus of Xavier University, Toledano also designed residences like the Beaux-Arts William T. Jay House in 1908, which is now the Tulane University President's Residence. Seventy years of office records from Toledano, Wogan and Bernard are kept in the Southeastern Architectural Archive at Tulane.

Homestead is unique in that George Hill built it on the original site of his father's old Creole cottage after the turn of the century in a newly emerging, modern style that reflected his own accomplishments and wealth. The home also featured very modern conveniences such as electricity and running water before either was available in the parish. While the older plantation homes in West Baton Rouge Parish are excellent examples of their own styles and representations of their time in history, Homestead represents the movement of sugar cane plantation into the modern era.

Building Description

Homestead Plantation, built in 1915 by George Hill, son of Baton Rouge area foundry, sawmill, ferry boat and sugar plantation owner John Hill of Scotland, is located on North River Road in Port Allen, Louisiana. The two-story home was designed by noted architects Toledano and Wogan of New Orleans and is an excellent example of the Neoclassical style popular in the early 20^th Century. The home is of wood frame construction on brick pier foundations with a full brick front porch, rectangular symmetrical facade and full-height portico. The home is situated roughly 100 yards to the east of the Mississippi River levee on land originally part of a sugar cane plantation purchased by planter John Hill in 1866, and is said to be the site of the first sugar cane planted in Louisiana after the Civil War. John Hill's great-grandson, Mr. George Hill, is the current owner of the property. The eight-acre property consists of the main house and seven vernacular-styled outbuildings that predate the main house. Sugar cane fields exist to the east (rear) of house, and homes are located to the north and south across small fields. The home is less than a mile from the Port Allen Elementary School.

Detailed Description

Homestead Plantation home is a two-story Neoclassical mansion featuring a rectangular, five-bay main structure with flanking porch bays and a port cochere at the front and one-story wings extending to the rear, forming a U-shaped footprint. A small brick boiler room was added at the north elevation soon after the home's construction. A narrow paved drive leads through front gates to the front of the home through a yard of large oak trees, and proceeds to the north side of the home, looping under the port cochere. Several wooden utilitarian outbuildings are present on the site, mostly to the rear. These include a barn, garage, cabin, shed and chicken house, and an office building and arbor. The barn, garage, cabin and chicken house are related to the early agricultural use of the property, and little information is known about construction dates and alterations.

The home is set on a raised brick Flemish bond foundation and is of wood construction with cypress clapboard siding. The solid brick foundation becomes brick piers in the rear of the building. Wide brick stairs extend from the central, north and south entries and a brick porch with an iron handrail extends the length of the central structure. The main roof structure features a large side gable extending over the entire central structure with low-sloped roofs extending over the front portico and north and south porches. Smaller side gables extend over the two-story north and south wings behind the porches, intersecting with the rear of the main gable. The rear and side one-story wings feature intersecting gable roofs that taper to a hip at the termination of the structure at the rear. Low sloped copper roofs extend over the rear lower and upper porches. Two short chimneys symmetrically extend through the main gable at the ridgeline and 3 taller chimneys exist at the rear wings. The roof is currently fiberglass shingle with terra cotta ridge caps at the gables, and copper on the rear porches and port cochere. A new modified bitumen roof covers the front portico and second-story rear porch. An intricate balustrade originally capped the front portico, but was damaged in Hurricane Hilda in 1964 and never replaced.

The front (east) elevation features a full-height two-story portico supported by four Tuscan-style columns. A full-width second-story gallery originally existed on the front elevation, but was also damaged in 1964 and replaced with a wooden Juliet balcony at the second-story porch door using a portion of the original balustrade. The southernmost bay of the front elevation features an open porch on the first and second floor, while the northernmost bay features an open porch at the second story, and a glass-enclosed "conservatory" at the first floor. A flat roofed port cochere extends out over the entry to the conservatory door at the first floor.

The eight windows on the front elevation are double hung 12/12 with full shutters and the main entry features double ¾ divided light glass doors flanked by matching glass sidelights. A large rectangular transom extends over the full length of the door and sidelights, with mullions separating panes divided horizontally and diagonally by muntins. The mullions between the door and sidelight transom are wide and corbel-shaped featuring a triglyph detail on the face. The second-story entry door is directly above the first-floor entry and is matching, aside from the lack of diagonal muntins in the transom. A Greek Revival style entablature extends under the roofline of the portico and features robust dentil moldings in the protruding entablature and triglyphs in the frieze. The dentil moldings follow the line of the soffit along the central structure of the house and along lines of the gables.

The flanking porches are supported by square Tuscan style columns with small round details in the neck at the corners and enclosed with balustrades featuring square vertical balusters and one horizontal, set high in the balustrade. The columns features a unique, raised shield detail below the intersection of the balustrade that is echoed in friezes and on columns in varying sizes on the north, south and west elevations. A simple entablature with smaller scale dentil moldings separates the first and second-floor porches. Two small corbels extend from above the corner column capitals at the frieze under the roofline. Much large versions of these corbels extend from all sides of the port cochere, which is supported by 6 round Tuscan columns below a simple frieze with small dentil moldings under the cornice. Four columns are supported on a brick foundation at the end of the port cochere and four more are set on brick stairs at either side of the entry. The frieze of the port cochere features a raised wooden detail reminiscent of a triglyph, but with a plain face and a rounded bottom extending into the short architrave. This detail exists above the columns and is typical of small Tuscan columns on the house. The glass "conservatory" on the first floor north end is enclosed with four ten-light full-height casement windows on the front elevation topped with four-light tall rectangular transoms.

The south elevation features a long, narrow brick veranda extending the length of the main structure of the house, with a slightly protruding one-story bay extending from the house at the end of the veranda. The line of the elevation then retreats back to the plane of the central structure and extends to the rear. The two story central structure of the elevation features first and second-floor open porches towards the east, with the open porch extending under an enclosed second floor. A large, round fixed panel window sits in the main gable end with muntins placed in a diamond pattern

intersected diagonally. The first-floor porch has two double-entry doors. The main door closely matches the second-story east entry door and leads into an interior parlor. The second first-floor entry sits at the rear of the veranda and features a set of double five paneled doors with rectangular raised panel transom. Both doors have a set of double screen doors, typical to all exterior doors.

The columns at the first-floor porch are set in sets of two framing the parlor entry door. The columns at the corner are large square Tuscan-style columns with the westernmost column becoming a pilaster where it meets the clapboard. The columns set inside the square columns are smaller round Tuscan columns. The columns are topped with the corresponding shield and blank triglyph details at the frieze, and small dentil moldings under the cornice. The second-story porch columns follow the same pattern as below, but the smaller columns are square instead of round, and all feature the shield detail in a panel below the intersection of the balustrade. The smaller columns are topped with one corbel at the frieze and the larger ones with two. A double door matching the first floor parlor entry exists on the second-floor porch just above the lower entry, but without sidelights. A rectangular divided light transom extends over the doors. An east-facing window is set into the wall to the right of the door, and is inset in a door sized opening, with a lower panel below the typical 12/12 window. The floor is covered with stretched and painted canvas.

The clapboard bay east of the open porches is topped with a side facing gable with generous eave returns and a fanlight louver. Two windows sit on the second floor above a wide open space for the porch below. A one-story wing projects south from the face of the elevation and features a gable end with simpler details, a smaller version of the large fanlight and simpler, smaller eave returns. One window faces east and west, and two face south on the wing. The extending one-story bay east of the projecting bay retreats back to the plane of the central structure, with one window on the elevation. The roof on the rear wing is gabled to the west, but stops approximately three-quarters down the wing, with a metal louver under the ridge. Just below the louver, a shed roof meets the gable and extends over the rear with a generous overhang.

The west elevation, or rear of the building, is framed by the two projecting one-story wings with the two-story central structure rising in the center. The foundation on the back is brick piers with lattice between, and an open wood porch wraps the entire length of the first floor, facing the inside and creating a courtyard area. The clapboard first-floor wings have two west-facing windows each, and the generous shed roof overhang is supported by extending brackets. Wide staircases extend out to the yard from the west end of the first-floor porches, and large square Tuscan-style columns support the low-sloped copper roof. The porch is enclosed with a simple balustrade featuring square balusters. Long brackets matching those at the port cochere extend from interior facing entablatures on the north and south sides. A double ¾ 10 light glass door with flanking glass sidelights sits in the center of the main structure of the house, but the typical transom is absent. A 6/6 window and a simple paneled door sit off-center in the bay to the left of the central entry, and a 12/12 window is located almost at the intersection of the wings to the right of the entry. When facing the northernmost one-story wing, a tall, narrow 6/6 window is separated by a mullion from a 4/4 window that sits atop a small paneled ice door, once used to pass ice blocks into an ice box on the interior. A pilaster denotes the end of the main house and beginning of the one-story wing. Two five paneled doors with tall rectangular four-light transoms frame a 12/12 window at the center of the wing. On the north-facing one-story wing, two 12/12 light windows frame a smaller 6/6 window and a tall narrow three light fixed window that leads to an interior bathroom. A five-panel door with a six-light transom sits at the far right on the elevation. Nine semi-flush globe light fixtures are affixed to the rear first-floor ceiling. Each wing features a protruding chimney, with the chimney on the northernmost wing extending far above the roofline.

The upper porch extends to the line of the lower porch roof of structure of the first-floor wings and is topped with a low sloped roof. The roof is supported by six turned columns and enclosed by a simple balustrade with square balusters. A window with fixed glass sits in the center of the porch, matching the size of the first-floor porch doors. The sidelights have large fixed glass panels separated horizontally by thick mullions. A wooden rail is affixed across the window along the bottom, and matches the pattern of the original second-floor gallery from the front of the house, according to early photographs. A five-paneled door with a three-light transom and a 12/12 window sit to the right of the central window, and one five-paneled door with a transom sits to the far left. Between the door to the left and the central window is a small window that sits at floor level, also enclosed by the intricate railing. A utility sink is located between the small window and the door. The porch floor is covered in stretched and painted canvas. The balustrades at each end of the porch facing the slope of the roof become solid with a board and batten pattern. The large dentil moldings at the soffit continue along the main structure of the house just above the intersection of the sloped porch roof to the main house. Extending even further from the rear of the house to the west is the one-story brick boiler house. The brick structure features paneled double doors and a parapet wall that peaks over the center of the double doors. Two large wooden cisterns sit atop the brick bases of the original cisterns directly behind the one-story wings, and collect rainwater from the gutters.

The north elevation matches the pattern of the south, with a few exceptions. While the second-story porch at the north of the elevation matches the porch to the south, the first floor is enclosed as a glass conservatory, and the porte cochere extends out to the north on its brick foundation. The entrance to the conservatory features double glass doors similar to the other entry doors on the home, with narrow five light sidelights to each side. A divided light transom follows the pattern of the doors and sidelights. A raised panel wood detail with a diamond carved in the middle sits between the top of the doors and bottom of the transom, and is unique to this entry. Fixed panel five light windows topped with narrow transoms sit to each side of the intersection of the porte cochere pilaster. In lieu of a porch on the first floor of the clapboard bay behind the porte cochere, a large three-part window is set in the center with a built in wooden window box below. The window in the center is a 16/16, with narrower 12/12 windows set to each side. Two typical 12/12 windows sit above the first floor window and a matching fanlight louver is in the gable end. The main gable has the same round light at the end as the south elevation. Just behind the north projecting wing, the brick boiler house begins and sits directly against the north side of the house. It projects to the north and to the west. The boiler house is constructed in common bond, with a parapet wall with a peak on the north above double doors matching that at the west end. Three narrow 6/6 wood windows are set on the north side, one to the left of the door and two to the right. The date of construction of the boiler house is unknown, but it is thought to be very early after the construction of the main house. The structure housed the original boiler for the house and also provided storage.

Aside from the loss of the second-story gallery and roof balustrade at the front of the house, the exterior is very much unchanged from the original construction, and retains most of its original construction materials. The original drawings and a photo taken just after construction show some details that have been removed over time such as an open horizontal wooden detail wrapping the second-floor sleeping porches just under the entablature. The columns and pilasters on the sleeping porch originally featured a type of column wrap with slim vertical and horizontal slats applied to the face. Many of these column wraps and other architectural elements from the house can be found, still intact, in a storage barn on the property. The original drawings show similar details on the front elevation that do not appear in the first photo of the house and were probably never added. A restoration of the home was undertaken in 2013 that included painting, roofing, and restoration of the back porch, which had fallen into disrepair. All salvageable material was reused in the restoration, which returned the porch to its original state.

Like the exterior, the interior of the home has remained almost unchanged since construction. The symmetrical first floor features a wide center stair hall that runs the full length of the central structure. Parlors flank each side of the hall towards the front of the house, with the right-wing continuing to the rear with a dining room, breakfast room, service stair hall, storage room and kitchen. The left-wing houses three bedrooms and one full bath. The conservatory features brick-paved floors and a diamond pattern detail above the windows. The central stairs lead to a wide landing at the second floor, with two bedrooms sitting to each side for a total of four. The second floor features two full bathrooms, each serving two of the bedrooms. The bedrooms facing the rear of the house have access to the rear gallery, while the front two have access to the sleeping porches. The two smaller bedrooms towards the rear each contain a large "dressing room" or closet. Three bedrooms have coal fireplaces, featuring unique tile surrounds in varying colors. The original wood floor exists in most of the house, except utilitarian areas that now feature linoleum. All the bathrooms have original tile floors and walls and in most cases, plumbing fixtures.

In the parlor and stair hall, the wood trim is painted white, but in the dining room and kitchen wing the woodwork and trim is stained a dark mahogany. The dining room ceiling features wood beams set in a cross pattern with an intricate carving serving as a ceiling medallion for the original chandelier. Many of the original built-ins remain in the house, such as a wraparound bench seat in the breakfast area and cabinets in the butler's pantry and kitchen.

The office on the property was the original sugar plantation office, and was moved to the current property sometime before 1915, as it is visible in a photograph of the original raised cottage home. It is a tall, narrow, two-story wood frame building with clapboard siding. A metal side gable roof sits atop the building, and a one-story lean-to-metal roof supported by square posts wraps around the small structure. A single door is placed slightly off-center on the south elevation. All other elevations feature two 6/6 double-hung wood windows stacked asymmetrically. The interior features one room on the first floor with a small staircase to an upper room. Early plantation records, photos and other historical information is stored and displayed in this early plantation office. The office is the only remaining building on the property known to relate directly to John Hill. The main house and arbor were built after his death, and it is unknown who constructed the other outbuildings. Mr. Hill died in the office, and it holds a record of his life at Homestead and tells the story of his time on the plantation.

To the left of the home sits a long rectangular arbor with a brick base and walking path supported by Tuscan-style columns matching the columns on the porte cochere. The large brackets like those on the porte cochere and support a wisteria vine. The arbor was constructed at the same time as the home, and was part of a formal garden plan. The arbor and a few unkempt landscape features are all that remain of the original garden.

Other outbuildings on the property include a garage used for storage, a small vacant cabin, a chicken house, a small tool shed a storage shed and a barn also used for storage. The barn is a rectangular board and batten structure with a metal hip roof at the rear of the property. Two large openings and two smaller ones face east and are mirrored on the west elevation. The barn is used for storage and contains many of the original materials removed from the main house and other structures throughout the years. The garage is also board and batten and has a metal front gable roof. One large opening with clipped top edges, like those on the barn, faces east. The wood frame cabin is set on brick piers and has a side gable metal roof that extends out over an integrated porch supported by square posts. Two doors are set into the east elevation and a chimney breaks the roofline at the center of the structure. The cabin is in poor condition. The "chicken house" is also made of board and batten siding, which becomes open slat siding halfway up the building. Two cased openings face south and it sits on a concrete slab and is topped by a side gable metal roof. The small empty tool shed is of wood construction on short brick piers with a metal roof pre-dating that of the roof on the other outbuildings. It is painted and has a cased opening facing east. A deteriorated shutter is still attached at one side of the opening. The storage shed is board and batten with a metal roof and situated outside the main yard of the house to the southwest.