Rembering the History at the Magee Farm with Battle Reenactments part of Alabama Tourism
In 1848 Mr. Jacob had a farmhouse and related building constructed with black slave labor for his family. The construction of the farmstead and buildings was of such high quality that from that date to the present day the house needed little help or maintenance from that day to the present. The 2 story building was the home of 4 different families over the decades before being designated a living history and museum site for the city of Kushla. The Magree Farm is one of those attractions that you will want to include on your Alabama travel schedule.
Along side the main house there was a commissary; post office, bath house and school house on the grounds. However the only remaining buildings are the homestead and the schoolroom – the heritage of those times lives on with the exhibits that are presented for you to see. Today one of the top Alabama attractions, when built, it was the largest private residence for several miles when it was completed.
The main homestead was designed with some fascinating plans. There is a center porch that has two sleeping room entrances leading onto it. One of these sleeping rooms has a door on the porch but no entrance into the main portion of the house. It was designed to provide travelers and guests that were not members of the family a safe place to sleep without them being able to enter the family’s private areas. The other bedroom has a door on the porch but also an entry that opens into the formal dining area. Of course this room was used by family members that arrived to visit or acquaintances that the family wanted to allow access to the rest of the house.
There is also a parlor room that could be closed off with either a drape or by shuting the sliding pocket doors. The entryway of the home opened into both the front and the back porch. The schoolroom is attached to the rear veranada. This room is now the museum for the facility. Up on the second floor are two large sleeping rooms, each with their own fireplace. For warmth, the house has a total of 5 fireplaces. Imagine keeping enough firewood to keep 5 fireplaces burning all winter!!
The cookhouse was out back but connected to the rest of the house by the back porch. It was typical to have the cookhouse removed from the home proper to keep the heat out of the main house. Next to the cookhouse is the outhouse so when the facilities needed to be used it could be quite a run in the dark or cold to get to the outhouse when nature called.
The farm is also the location of the Living History and Battle Reenactment – both in the spring and the fall.
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