Archibald Smith Plantation Home
The Union gun fire echoed through the morning mist in the small southern town of Roswell, Georgia as the Smith family packed up their belongings, not knowing if they would ever return to their beloved home. The Archibald Smith Plantation Home has stood the test of time just steps away from the local town square for over 150 years.
Roswell city founder Archibald Smith was originally a farmer of the southern Georgia coast until he moved to this blossoming city of with his wife, Anne, and his 30 slaves in 1838. It was here on his new 300 acres of land that Smith built a two-story farm house as well accompanying slave quarters, cook house, barn, carriage house, and spring house which are all still standing on the grounds. Archibald and Annie raised their four children--Elizabeth, William, Helen, and Archibald, Jr.--here and both boys enlisted in the Confederate Army.
Only a month after the Confederate surrender, William would pass away from disease. His letters home to his family were compiled and put in the book The Death of a Confederate in 1988. The house remained in the Smith family until 1994 when the last descendent passed away.
This site is not only a gorgeous example Southern architecture, but also a perfect preservation of Civil War Era Southern history. All the original family furniture, as well as other artifacts, are still housed in this beautiful plantation home. Smith Plantation preserves the culture and heritage of Roswell, as well as the rest of Georgia. Come and explore this little know gem of the South. (Brittany Martin, Flagler College)
