Barnesly Plantation

 
The Courant American Newspaper
Cartersville, Georgia
October 1, 1896, Page 1
Transcribed and submitted by: 
 

Historic Old Place

Barnesly Plantation Goes Under the Hammer to Satisfy Mortgage

Laid Out By An Englishman

Relic of Ante-Bellum days passes into the hands of the Deans of Rome, for the time.

 

The famous Barnesly place, thirteen miles from Rome, has been sold under the foreclosure of a mortgage held on the property.

It consists of about 4,000 acres of land. The house and grounds were planned on a most extensive scale by the Englishman, Rodfrey F. Barnesly, who settled the place many years ago. He lived in New Orleans after coming to this country as consul and did an extensive business in cotton there.

But the climate did not suit him in summer and after looking over the country he decided to settle at that point among the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains and purchased the property at a very low price, as land in this section was not considered of such value as it is now.

The Englishman planed his mansion after the style of a house in his native country and laid off the grounds in the most extensive, tasteful and attractive manner known to the skill of the landscape gardener. Imported shrubbery and shade trees were planted on the grounds and many of them remain today as memorials of the wealth and high ideas of the original proprietor.

The plan included deer parks and all the etceteras of an English estate.

The Scene of a Novel.

Frances Hodgson Burnett spent much of her time at Barnesley, where the principal scenes of her first successful novel were laid.

It was an ideal retreat with all the comforts that luxury could suggest and wealth procure to make it a place of retirement and perfect repose. The mansion was richly furnished with costly furniture, expensive carpets were laid on the oaken floors and the table service was of rare old china.

Captain Barnesly purchased a stock of old Madeira wine, which he shipped and re-shipped twice across the ocean to improve its flavor. Before the plans were completed a tragedy occurred in the death of the proprietor, and it was abandoned and for several years remained untenanted in its solitary splendor. The war came on and when Sherman’s troopers reached Barnesley they did not break up and destroy all that they could not conveniently carry away, because the proprietor lived under the protection of the British flag, which he hoisted above his residence.

The solid brick and stone walls resisted the destructive assaults of time and the house and grounds still retain much of their imposing elegance. For several years the property has been under the control of Messrs. Dean & Dean, attorneys, of Rome and Atlanta, and they have kept a reliable tenant in charge of it.

The discovery of extensive mines of bauxite in the neighborhood has enhanced the value of the property of late and the development of the mineral, which is the basis of the aluminum industry, has gone forward rapidly. A furnace has been built near Barnesly where hundreds of tons of bauxite are taken out and prepared for shipment monthly.

Bid in For the Heirs.

The mortgage was of long standing and the attorneys thought best to allow the property to be sold under a foreclosure. It was bid in by Mr. J. E. Dean, of the firm of Dean & Dean. The heirs, except Mrs. Schwartz, who lives on the place, are in England, Africa and Brazil.

 

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