Callaway Plantation Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
Arnold-Callaway Plantation
U.S. National Register of Historic Places


Location in Georgia (U.S. state) Show map of Georgia (U.S. state) Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Location	NW of Washington on U.S. 78, Georgia, U.S.
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	72000402
Added to NRHP	April 11, 1972

The Callaway Plantation, also known as the Arnold-Callaway Plantation, is a group of historic buildings and an open-air museum in Washington, Georgia. It used to be a working cotton farm where many enslaved African Americans were forced to work. The Callaway family owned this land from 1785 until 1977. They still own a lot of land around the museum site today. When the plantation was active, it was very large and had hundreds of enslaved people.

The museum site covers about 56 acres (about 226,000 square meters). It includes the main houses that the family gave to the city of Washington in 1977. Other buildings were moved to this site to show what a typical plantation might have looked like. The city of Washington, Georgia, runs the museum. This site is important because its main house is a rare example of Greek Revival architecture used for a plantation home. It also shows a style called classicism from the time after the American Civil War. The site has been on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) list since April 11, 1972.

The Callaway Family Story
Plantation Architecture
The Museum Today
Images for kids
See also

The Callaway Family Story

The Callaway family in Georgia came from Peter Callaway (1640–1715), who moved to the United States from England. Other famous Callaways, like Fuller Earle Callaway and Cason Jewell Callaway, were part of this same family. Their part of the family later moved to western Georgia, to cities like Columbus and LaGrange.

Early Years (1700s)

In 1783, Thomas Edward Callaway and his family moved to Georgia from Halifax County, Virginia. In 1785, John Callaway (1746–1821), one of Thomas Edward Callaway's four sons, received 200 acres of land from the state of Georgia. This land was about 9 miles west of Washington, Georgia. John Callaway built a simple one-room log cabin on the property. This cabin is no longer standing, but it was near the Callaway family cemetery. John Callaway and his son Enoch Callaway owned many enslaved African Americans. The plantation grew cotton to sell to other countries. The enslaved people lived in log cabins near the main house.

Growing the Plantation (1800s)

When John Callaway died in 1821, he left 25 enslaved African Americans to his children in his will. He was buried in the Callaway family cemetery. This cemetery was already there before John's burial, with unmarked graves of former neighbors. John's son Enoch Callaway died in 1859. He left 8 enslaved African Americans in his will. When enslaved people died, they were buried in a separate burial ground just for African Americans. This burial ground was no longer used after 1910 and is not standing today.

Jobe Callaway, another family member, married and moved to Chambers County, Alabama. However, he later returned to the Callaway Plantation. When Jobe Callaway died at the plantation, he left his son Jacob "558 acres, where he lives." Jacob Callaway (1760–1855) built his home in 1817. Most of his wealth came from growing and selling cotton to England before the American Civil War.

Jacob Callaway's son Parker inherited 100 acres near "Fishing Creek" by 1855. He started buying more land from his relatives. By the time he died, he owned over 3060 acres. Jacob Callaway had money from his last cotton shipment in the Bank of England. He could not get this money until after the Civil War ended in 1865, which was after Jacob had died. The Callaway family made a lot of money from this interest. They used it to build the large brick manor house around 1869, led by Jacob's grandson, Aristides.

Later Years (1900s)

Parker Callaway's son Aristides sold most of the 3060+ acre property to W. R. Callaway, Enoch Jones, and Lucy A. Jones. When Aristides Callaway died, he left over 400 acres to two of his children. Aristides' granddaughter, Katie Mae Arnold Hardin (1888–1977), gave her part of the Callaway property to the city of Washington, Georgia. This is how the museum site began.

Plantation Architecture

Many buildings are on the property today. The most important ones include the Parker Callaway homestead (built around 1817) and Aristides Callaway's Greek Revival brick manor house (built around 1869). The National Register of Historic Places calls the brick house "the brickhouse." Other buildings include Jacob Callaway's Grey House (built 1790), a log cabin (around 1785), a one-room schoolhouse (built 1891), the Dally Slave Cabin (built 1840), and a general store (built 1930). These buildings were moved to the site from other parts of Georgia to create the museum. There is also a corn crib, a house for making bricks, and a smoke house.

The main manor house, built by Aristides Callaway, was very large and grand. It was built after the American Civil War, during the "Reconstruction-era." This shows that the family was very wealthy. Using bricks for building was not common in that area or at that time.

The Grey House was built in 1790 by Jacob Callaway and is still on the site. It is a two-story house in the Federal Plain style. Inside the Grey House, you can see furniture and decorations from that time period.

The Museum Today

The Callaway Plantation museum is located across from the Washington-Wilkes airport. However, when you look at pictures, it still looks like a rural plantation from the past. There is a small fee to enter. You can buy souvenirs at the general store, which also serves as the information center. The buildings show furniture, tools, and other items that were common in the old days.