Smith Plantation – Roswell Georgia Art

Description

I’ve mentioned before that during the years I lived in the Atlanta area, Roswell was one of my favorite places to visit. The Smith Plantation is a beautiful illustration of why I liked the area. Parts of historic Roswell still had a small town “homey” feel. It doesn’t feel like suburbia when you look at a scenic view like this does it?

This beautiful old antebellum home was built for Archibald Smith in 1845. His family moved from the Georgia coast and were among the founding families of Roswell. I’ve seen Smith Plantation described as either Georgian or vernacular in style. Certainly it has the symmetry loved by the Georgians but it’s not perfectly Georgian so I can see the varying opinion on architectural style. Whatever the case, to me this reminds me more of Tara from Gone With The Wind than many of the later and grander neoclassical mansions for which the American South is so well known.

Smith Plantation is one of those rarer stories where the home remained in the same family across the passing generations. In fact, it was the house was home to the Smith family up until it was sold to the city of Roswell in the 1980’s to be used as a museum. So it’s a beautifully preserved example of an antebellum plantation home. Standing at the end of the walk gazing up, it’s possible to imagine that one has stepped back in time. There’s no sense of suburban Atlanta or the 21st century in general. Give all that it’s not surprising that Smith Plantation is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Have you visited Smith Plantation? Or perhaps you live or have lived in historic Roswell, Georgia? Or maybe, like me, you just love beautiful old architecture? I hope you will take a second to share what attracted you to this particular antebellum art print?