Cobb Historic Houses – Another Sightseeing Tour

Sunday was another tour, this time almost in our back yard. The Cobb Preservation Foundation had about 8 or 9 older houses and institutions (homes, a church, a school, and a pavilion opened with docents on hand, ready to give you a tour.

Time only allowed us to visit four houses but the docents at each one shared some very valuable information.



First we went to the Smith-Manning House, we always thought of as the Manning house. It is probably the 4th or 5th oldest house in Cobb County, and maybe the 2nd or 3rd oldest in Marietta. In was built in 1838, which is only 4 years after Marietta was incorporated. The docent, the son of Johnny, that I went to school with, told us the house was built in a format the a lot of houses in Charleston was built in – to protect from the elements he told us. His mother Jill, also a classmate, was there, she said, "Isn't he good?" He was.

This barn – garage looking thing (top picture) was built in 1939. Anna’s father worked in the CCC then and remembered gathering rocks for something at Judge Manning’s farm. This must be it.

Also, my 86 year old neighbor said he used to play out on the Manning property when it was "Manning Mines" That is news to me they were mines there.



The second house was the Lawrence House. Which is a nice big old empty house over looking streets cut for a new subdivision which was probably once part of this property.




The house is empty except there are a few antiques here and thee and notice the screen by the window. It has hinges.



Brumby Hall and Gardens is a beautiful place. In 1851, Col Arnoldus Vanderhorst Brumby had it built. He was the head of Georgia Military Academy (GMA), which as next door, which later became the Marietta Country Club, and which now is the Marietta Conference Center, which is owned by the City of Marietta and leased by the Hilton Hotel Corporation.
In 1864 when Sherman came to Marietta he burned the court house and other prominent buildings. He also burned the buildings of the Georgia Military Academy but spared Colonel Brumby’s Hall? Why? It is believed he did not torch the hall because he and the Colonel were classmates at West Point.

Connections make the world go around.

The very knowledgeable docent there gave us an excellent tour. There are some very nice portraits and furniture there. While we were there, the back door opened and shut several times, and so did the next door, which was a sun room. I wondered if there had been any ghost reports there.

The house is on the Marietta Conference Grounds, thus, Hilton is responsible for keeping it clean – but don’t expect to drop by and see Paris Hilton running a buffer over the beautiful hardwood floors or anything.

The last building on our tour was about 8 miles or so out of town at the Chaney House. I took pictures a few years ago at this house, which I prefer. Then it was in the middle of an opened meadow. Now it is in the middle of several close big buildings which is an assistant living compound.

When I took this picture I didn't know I was standing in the middle of the Tennessee-Georgia-Florida Highway, which was the highway when the only mode of transportation was horses. But I learned that this day.

In the Civil War this was the headquarters of General Schofield’s (Union) headquarters..

The house was empty, as all but the Brumby Hall were. There, along with the docent was a short white-haired man I have seen at Marietta concerts and he was on a video of helping remake the Trammell House which I took special interest in, because the Trammells are relatives. I asked him didn't he help with the Trammell house. Indeed he did. He was a very nice guy and his wife was there also. I picked up that his said that they live on South Avenue near Waterman Street. I said, "Hey, that was right in the center of my paper route!"

Small world!