The Nolan farm operated from 1856 until about 1970 and covered around 2,000 acres in Morgan County, Georgia. This plantation home is the second Nolan farm home, built sometime between 1905 and 1910. The first Nolan home is a plantation plain I-form house located further south on the opposite side of Highway 83. Behind this house, to the west along Nolan Store Road, was a complex of farm structures and tenant homes.
The cotton plantation included a blacksmith’s shop, a commissary store, cotton gin, and several tenant houses. Once slave labor ended in 1865, many of the workers remained on the property as tenant farmers. Remnants of the tenant houses and farm structures still exist in the woods and fields near the crossroads. At its peak, the Nolan plantation was one of the most extensive tenant farming operations in Morgan County.
The store across the street from the home was the commissary, a credit-based store for employees of the farm. There are rumors that the tenant homes were slave quarters. Historians believe the building in question is a tenant house with wooden boards that are not old enough to date to the antebellum era.
For the last 35 plus years, the Neoclassical home has remained unoccupied. In recent years, the house underwent a limited restoration for a FOX network series. The current owner has expressed no desire to sell the property or restore the home any further. The Nolan house was added to the NRHP in 2015 after the Madison-Morgan Conservancy staff prepared the nomination.
Really great!
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It’s so sad that this beautiful home will not be sold or restored. , Can you just imagine the history!
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I would love to restore the Nolan home. Let me know is applicable
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What a beautiful place. It boggles my mind that owners will let places like this deteriorate and be willing to sell it for someone else to restore. Sad.
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*not be willing to sell
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Who is philip noland I believe he’s my descendant
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It is for sale if you want it, would cost a fortune!!
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Wow! Beautiful house. Love how spacious it is and the staircase is grand. Thanks for the blog.
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Thanks for reading.
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I absolutely love your photos and stories about these houses! You do a wonderful job, and I enjoy your work very much.
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I appreciate your kinds words
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Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.
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Awesome. Thanks for stopping by.
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That parquet ceiling is amazing—thank you for another great article!
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Thank you for reading Kyle
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just an FYI regarding to Nolan house to any who might be interested in photographing it. Today (7/9/18)I spoke with the conservancy group who looks after this property in regards to shooting there. They told me the owner is NOT interested in selling and does NOT want to be contacted. There are wasp and bee infestations as well as bats inside and around the property, along with weak flooring on both floor levels. She urged me to warn others that there are security systems in place to identify trespassers, but encourages everyone, for their own safety, to stay off the property.
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That’s so sad that she would allow it to ruin -She should be ashamed!!!!!
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No way! Is this the one that’s been used during scenes in the Walking Dead? Great blog by the way, I’ve always been fascinated in abandoned homes and buildings and really curious as to their history and past inhabitants, the walls are simply steeped in history. Thank you very much for sharing 🙂 Beautiful work.
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Thank you. I don’t think this house was used in the Walking Dead.
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This house is right down the road from my in-laws house. I’ve been inside of it, before the front door was fixed and it’s so beautiful but its absolutely heartbreaking that the owner will neither fix it up or sell it. It was remarkable how good it looked considering it didnt have a door for so long. No graffiti, nothing intentionally broken, it was amazing. The city has attempted to purchase it from them as Madison, GA is very big on preservation but for some reason they just won’t let it go. It’s very frustrating.
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I would make the perfect animal sanctuary I dream of. Land for cattle and horses. In house space for a bird room and a critical care room. Plenty of space for me and a staff or two. Dream on dreamer!
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This was my life in the year 1952 through the 1960, my dad was a farm mechanic on this farm and I stayed with the people that lived in this house ,I ate tea cakes on the front porch of this house many times as I waited for my dad to pick me up and take me down to my house on beaver dam road …i grew up on this farm
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Wow, that’s incredible June. Thank you for sharing.
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I live down the road from this house. It is such a shame that the owner does not want to do anything with it. It is absolutely beautiful.
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Is this property accessible? I am a photographer. Thank you.
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This house is not Greek Revival. Both the architectural details and the estimated construction dates indicate it is a Neoclassical structure. The best way to spot that this is not Greek Revival is the small second floor balcony. Greek Revival would typically have either a full-width 2nd story porch, usually called a “gallery”, or rarely, no second floor porch at all. Greek Revival houses do not employ double windows and their front doors almost always have sidelights.
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Thanks, Mark. I made the correction.
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I love seeing these old houses and the wife and I are setting up a map for a 3 month tour starting august this year . we are planning around your photos and information. Thank you for providing these pictures. I will donate to a fund for you to continue your work if we can. we live in virginia and have a lot of our history that needs to be documented. Thank you for the history/geography lesson.
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Thank you, Don. I’d love to come back up to Virginia and explore.
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I am happy to see people sharing their thoughts and memories about this house. My grandfather sold this house and land in the 1970’s and I am currently trying to think of any way possible to get it back or at least get it restored. I have contact information for the owner and am hoping to reach out to them soon. I pass by the house often and it breaks my heart to see it the way it is. My dream is to one day own the house and property and use it as an education center focused on agriculture in Georgia. It would be a great platform to discuss the importance of agriculture in the development of our state, the role slavery played in that development, and current agricultural curriculum today.
If anyone has any ideas AT ALL about ways I could possibly convince the own to restore or sell please reply. It would be such a waste to continue letting this home fall into this type of disrepair.
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The first time I saw this home it made the hair on my neck stand on end. I don’t know what it is about old things with me.
I pass by this home a couple times a month and the front door is still not locked.
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I would love to rehab this home. Im a registered sub-contracter. Would need a couple of years to finish this project. May you please send me some photos ,so I can get an estimate on project materials.
Thank you, Linda
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Is there a purchase price land contract?
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Beautiful home with lots of potential. I hate to see owners be so selfish and not want to make the home livable or at the very least allow someone else to restore it. Shame…
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You’re right. It is a shame the owner has allowed this home to deteriorate.
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