The Rock House
McDuffie Turns 150
Join us in celebrating the 150th birthday of McDuffie County! We will be sharing historic highlights from the county (like the one below) over the next year.
The Rock House is an 18th century dwelling and the only surviving house from the Colonial Wrightsboro Settlement (1768). Its builder, Thomas Ansley, used weathered granite, quarried in its natural form from the nearby geographic fall line as building material. The granite, along with pine timbers and cypress shingles gave the house a distinctive Georgia character. The architectural style of the Rock House is similar to stone homes in the Delaware Valley of New Jersey from where Ansley migrated. It is the earliest dwelling in Georgia with its original architectural form intact. Ownership of the Rock House passed to Nicholas C. Bacon in the 1840s and in the 1880s to the Johnson family who maintained it as a working plantation until the 20th century. In 1955, Johnson heirs Effie Johnson Usry and Mary Ruth Johnson McNeill gave the house to the Wrightsboro Quaker Community Foundation Inc., who restored the house in 1981.
More stories about McDuffie County can be found in the book: McDuffie County, Celebrating 150 Years: Over 200 sketches and stories of the people and places of McDuffie County in celebration of its founding on October 18, 1870. Compiled by Lewis & Joann Smith.
More historic images of McDuffie County can be found in the book: Images of America, McDuffie County by Chase Beggs.