The Rock House in Thomson: A Place in Peril
THOMSON, Ga (WJBF)- An iconic old home in McDuffie County needs a little TLC. It's been placed on the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation's 20th annual Places in Peril list.
The Rock House in Thomson is a significant piece of history in Georgia. Over the centuries it has fallen into disrepair thanks to neglect and vandalism. Now it needs your help.
'So basically it was built in the late 1700s, just a few years after the Declaration of Independence,' said Windsor Smith, an Ansley descendant.
The Rock House was built by Thomas Ansley after he got a large land grant for his war efforts during the American Revolution. It's one of the oldest houses still standing in Georgia.
'The Quakers who settled in Wrightsboro and Thomas Ansley were the first people, first white settlers, in that part of Georgia ever,' explained Wright Mitchell, President and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
It's the only stone house left in the state with its original floor plan in tact, making it historically significant. The house was used as a home until the 1950's. Over time it began to fall apart and vandals destroyed parts of the home.
The goal of the Georgia Trust's Places in Peril program is to raise awareness about Georgia's significant historic, archaeological and cultural resources. The Places in Peril program offers a path to restore the Rock House.
'The primary goal of the Places in Peril program is to draw awareness to the nature, to the threatened nature of the site in the hopes that public support will galvanize possibly, you know, in the case of the Rock House- a fringe group would be established that could form under 501-C3 and raise funds,' Mitchell said.
It's the ancestral home of the late President Jimmy Carter, a descendant of Thomas's son, Abel.
13-year-old Windsor Smith is descended from Thomas's son, Joseph. She has always loved the Rock House and spent years studying its history, even winning an essay contest that led to her family meeting President Carter.
'It's just amazing, to be honest, because I feel like, for me it's not just, 'Oh, that's an old building with a whole bunch of historic context.' That's my home. That's my family that I came from.'
Windsor's passion for the Rock House has her dreaming big for its future.
'I would like maybe some tour guides there, maybe– because I'm a Junior Ranger at a whole bunch of parks. And we have a whole lot of kids in Thompson who would be ecstatic to do something like this. So, I think that we can maybe have a Junior Ranger certification program,' said Windsor.
Windsor's father Jason Smith works for the city as the Community Development Director. He hopes the Rock House's addition to this list helps his family's vision of turning it into a center for historic learning.
'We're hoping that just that word of mouth, that higher elevated level of interest will open up some opportunities that maybe we haven't seen or opened up some opportunities that were maybe closed in the past,' he said.
He added that being on the Places in Peril list is both a good thing and a bad thing.
'People hear that 'places in peril' and they understand what it means and the name resonates with people. So, I'm hoping that that even though it's not a you know, it's a recognition of something that has potentially fallen into the dangers of hands of vandals and, you know, destruction and that sort of thing. But it's a good thing to raise awareness,' Jason said.
Right now the city only has about a quarter of a million dollars set aside for work on the Rock House. They don't know yet how much it will cost to renovate, but it's safe to say it will be expensive to bring this historic home back to life.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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