Chief Vann House Historic Site facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
|
|
Chief Vann House
|
|
Chief Vann House
|
|
 Location in Georgia (U.S. state)
Location in the United States
|
|
| Location | 82 Highway 225 N, Chatsworth, Georgia |
|---|---|
| Built | 1804 |
| Architect | Dr. Henry Chandlee Forman |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 69000044 |
| Added to NRHP | October 28, 1969 |
The Chief Vann House was the very first brick home built in the Cherokee Nation. People even called it the "Showplace of the Cherokee Nation" because it was so grand. This important house belonged to a Cherokee leader named James Vann.
Today, the Vann House is a Georgia Historic Site. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it's a very old and important building in northern Georgia. You can find it in Murray County, near Chatsworth. From the house, you can see the beautiful Cohutta Mountains about 10 miles (16 km) away.
Contents
Building the Vann House
When James Vann became a very successful businessman and chief, he wanted a house that showed his importance. He decided to build a large, two-story brick home. He even hired professional architects to help design it.
The Moravian people also helped with the building. They were a religious group who also provided education to local Cherokees.
Starting Construction
In July 1803, a man named Vogt and Dr. Henry Chandlee Forman arrived to start the work. Construction began in late 1803 and finished in early 1804. The house has very thick walls. The outside walls are about 18 inches (46 cm) thick, and the inside walls are about 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
All the bricks for the house came from the red clay found right on the Spring Place Plantation property. Even the nails and hinges were made by hand at Vann's own blacksmith shop. Only the walls on the third floor were made of plaster over wood.
The main bricklayer for the house was Robert Henry Howell. He was born in Virginia and passed away in 1834. He is buried at the Moravian cemetery nearby. He also built other important structures in the area.
House Style and Rooms
The Vann House combines two styles of architecture: late Federal-style and early Georgian style. It has two full floors and a third half-story. The first and second floors have tall ceilings, about 12 feet (3.7 m high). The third floor ceiling is lower, about 6 feet (1.8 m).
Both the first and second floors have three main rooms. There is a room on the east side, a room on the west side, and a hallway in between. On the first floor, the east room was the dining room. The west room was the drawing-room, which was like a family or living room.
Upstairs on the second floor, the east room was the main bedroom. The west room was for guests. The third floor was different. It was used for storage when James lived there. Later, it became rooms for children when Joseph Vann owned the house.
If you go up to the third floor, you will see two rooms. The first room you enter was likely for the boys. It is two-thirds the width of the house and has two closets. The second room was for the girls. It is smaller, only one-third the width of the house. This room could be closed off for more privacy.
The Vann House also has a basement with two rooms. One room was used as a wine cellar.
Colors and Details
The inside of the house is beautifully decorated with red, blue, green, and yellow colors. White was used as a background color. There are two ideas about why these four colors were chosen.
One idea is that the colors represent nature. Red stands for Georgia's red clay, blue for the sky, green for trees and grass, and yellow for wheat and corn. Another idea is that these colors were popular in the Federal style of architecture.
These colors were common in homes from the late 1700s and early 1800s. However, the Vann House used colors differently. Most homes of that time would use one main color in each room. But in the Vann House, the colors are mixed in almost every room. This gives the house a unique, multi-color look. You can see this color design on the mantels, doorframes, and wood panels, all of which are original to the house.
The house's doors are special. They are called Christian doors because their design includes a cross and an open Bible.
The Vann Property
Besides the main house, the 800-acre (3.2 km²) property had many other buildings. There were cabins for people who worked on the plantation, barns, smokehouses, and a trading post. The property also had over 1,000 peach trees, 147 apple trees, and a still.
James Vann lived in the house for five years after it was built. After his passing in 1809, his son, Rich Joe Vann, inherited the house.
Rich Joe's Vann House
After his father passed away, Rich Joe Vann made some changes and improvements to the house. He paid for new decorations and work on the house between 1809 and 1818.
Rich Joe hired a father and son team, John and James McCartney, for this work. They arrived in 1818 and added all the beautiful woodwork you see in the house today, including fancy columns. They also built a very unusual part of the house: a "floating staircase" on the third floor.
The Floating Staircase
This staircase seems to "float" because its second landing hangs over the first-floor hall without any visible supports. It looks like it's hanging in the air!
The Vann stairway is one of the oldest examples of cantilevered construction in Georgia. This means it's built in a way that one side is firmly supported, balancing the weight of the other side. About six inches of the staircase are built into a solid brick wall. This wall is much heavier than the landing, so the staircase stays balanced and won't tip.
In 1819, President James Monroe was traveling from Augusta to Nashville. He planned to stay at a simple Moravian mission. But he found the Vann House much more comfortable. So, he asked Rich Joe, who was only 20 years old, if he could stay there instead.
Losing the Vann House
After the Georgia Gold Rush, Rich Joe Vann hired a white man, Mr. Howel, to manage the Vann House. At the time, a new Georgia law said white people needed a special permit to work for Cherokees. Rich Joe didn't know he was breaking this law.
As the time of the Cherokee Trail of Tears approached, Rich Joe and his family faced problems. Colonel William Bishop and the Georgia Guard tried to take over the house. They said Rich Joe had broken the law by hiring a white man without a permit. At the same time, another man named Spencer Riley claimed he won the house in the Land Lottery of 1832. Colonel Bishop then forced Rich Joe out of his home.
Colonel Bishop used the house as his local office and let his brother, Absalom Bishop, live there. But then Spencer Riley moved into the house, claiming it was his. To get Riley out, Colonel Bishop put a smoldering log on the cantilevered stairs. This caused some damage to the house but made Riley leave. Bishop's brother then moved back in.
Even though Rich Joe and his family lost their home, he later sued the government. He was given $19,605 as payment, which was almost double what the house was worth back then.
In November of that year, Colonel Bishop held John Howard Payne at the house for 13 days. Payne was a famous composer who wrote "Home, Sweet Home." He was held because he supported the Cherokee people's claims against the state of Georgia.
Restoring the Vann House
Rich Joe Vann and his family were finally forced to leave the house in March 1835. They moved to Webbers Falls, Oklahoma, as part of the Trail of Tears. They never returned to Georgia or their home.
Over the years, the Vann House had 17 different owners. In 1952, a doctor named J. E. Bradford, who had bought the house in 1920, sold it to the Georgia Historical Commission and the State of Georgia. The house was in very bad shape. The roof was gone, and the weather was damaging it.
One of the past owners had added a room after Rich Joe left. A big restoration project started in 1958. It took six years to finish. They removed the extra room that wasn't part of the original house. They also repainted the home using its original colors. Today, the house is managed by the Parks, Recreation, and Historic Sites division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Robert E. Chambers Interpretive Center
In 1999, the State of Georgia, the Cherokee people, the State of Oklahoma, and other supporters helped build a new museum. It is called the "Robert E. Chambers Interpretive Center" and is located next to the Vann House.
The center opened on July 27, 2002. It was built to honor the Cherokee people and their history. The museum also tells the stories of Chiefs James and Joseph Vann. It shares the history of the Cherokee Nation over the past 200 years, including the difficult story of the Trail of Tears. Robert E. Chambers was a local businessman from Chatsworth who supported the Cherokee people, and the center was named after him.
Images for kids
-
Chief Vann House
-
Chief Joseph "Rich Joe" Vann.
-
Burn marks on the Vann House's stairs where Colonel Bishop placed a smoldering log in an attempt to smoke out Spencer Riley.
-
The Vann Plantation
