I had recently discovered a passion for shooting clay targets. Just before my arrival in Thomasville, I called the local tourism officials to ask about public shooting ranges in the area. “All the shooting ranges in Thomasville are private,” she said, “but you can tour an historic sporting plantation while you’re here.” What was a sporting plantation? Even before arriving in the charming southern Georgia city, I had a mystery to explore.
Thomasville is a charming small city in southern Georgia closer to the Gulf of Mexico than Atlanta. Retail shops are an interesting mix of high-end goods and antiques. Restaurants include southern BBQ and seafood. It never snows. Is it any wonder the city was once known as the Grand Winter Resort of the South?
There are lots of great things to do in Thomasville, but chief on my mind was discovering a sporting plantation. Although the city is still surrounded by plantations, many of them offering private shooting excursions, there is only one open to the public. That was my first stop on my extended weekend of exploring Thomasville.
History of Pebble Hill Plantation
In 1825, Thomas Jefferson Johnson founded Pebble Hill Plantation as an agricultural plantation. Johnson worked the farm with his family and slaves, producing cotton, sugar cane, corn, and tobacco. After his death, Johnson’s widow and daughter managed the plantation through the Civil War.
Pebble Hill was not the only plantation. Like many southern towns in the 1800s, Thomasville was surrounded by agricultural plantations. And like many southern towns in the late 1800s, their economy was upended entirely with the conclusion of the Civil War. As property values plunged, the plantation owners resorted to selling their last great asset: land.
READ MORE: How to Experience the Southern Charm of Thomasville, GA
Sporting Plantations of the South
In 1875, wealthy Northerners began riding the Southern Railroad to its terminus in Thomasville hoping to escape the harsh winters of the North. Some were content to rent a local cottage or stay at one of the luxury hotels in town, but soon they began turning their attention to the bankrupt plantations.
In 1896, Howard Melville Hanna, an industrialist from Ohio, purchased Pebble Hill Plantation. As the owner of a plantation with lots of land, Hanna sought a way to entertain his friends and family when they visited from the North. The plantation was converted into a sporting plantation for hunting quail – a perfect gentleman’s sport if ever there was in the 1800s.
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Kate Hanna Harvey
In 1901, Howard Melville Hanna sold Pebble Hill Plantation to his daughter, Kate Hanna Harvey, for a grand total of $1. She restored the original main house and enjoyed spending winters on the southern sporting plantation. Locally, she was known as a philanthropist and compassionate owner of the plantation.
When the house burned to the ground in 1934, Harvey built the existing Main House visitors can tour today. She hired architect Abram Garfield, son of President James A. Garfield, to design the new house. The new house was completed in early 1936, giving Harvey a few months to enjoy the renewed Pebble Hill.
Elizabeth Ireland Poe
In 1936, Harvey passed away and left the plantation to her daughter from her first marriage, Elizabeth Ireland Poe. Educated in Cleveland and New York, Poe was a smart and compassionate woman. In 1946, she married Major Parker Barrington Poe, a World War II veteran from Texas she met a few years earlier.
Poe was known for her love of horses and was a renowned sportswoman on the plantation. She was an avid polo player and frequently participated in horse races across Ireland and England. The horse stables are still active today and open for visitors to explore.
Upon her death in 1978, Poe left instructions for the Main House to be preserved and opened as a museum. In 1983, Pebble Hill Plantation was opened to the public for the first time. Since then, it has been known as one of the most remarkable plantations in Georgia.
Visiting Pebble Hill Plantation
A visit to Pebble Hill Plantation begins through the small white gates on either side of the Gate Houses. Paved roads are optional on the property, but majestic oak trees are guaranteed. After a circuitous route across the property, the Visitor’s Center is the first stop.
Inside, a ten-minute film explains the history of the plantation, people who have lived there, and significance to the region. A small gift shop has books on local history and plantation life. When you’re ready, a friendly staff member will set up a guided tour of the Main House or point out things to see on the self-guided tour of the grounds.
1251 U.S. Highway 319 South, Thomasville, GA | 229-226-2344 | https://pebblehill.com
How Long Will You Spend at Pebble Hill Plantation?
The wonderful thing about visiting Pebble Hill Plantation is that most of the activities are on your own schedule. A guided tour of the house takes about 30 minutes and is offered every half hour from 10:30 a.m. A self-guided tour of the grounds can take around 1-2 hours. To get the most out of the experience, get some food to go from a savory shop in Thomasville and take advantage of the picnic area beside the pond at Pebble Hill.
The Main House Guided Tour
A row of hedges lining a brick path lead to the covered portico across the front of Pebble Hill. A wrap around second floor balcony demonstrates the importance of getting outside to enjoy the view. And who wouldn’t want to enjoy the view of formal gardens, blooming shrubbery, and towering oak trees?
The Main House was built in 1936 after the previous house burned to the ground a few years earlier. Designed by architect Abram Garfield and built under the supervision of Kate Hanna Harvey, the brick plantation house is a gentle addition compliments the landscape instead of standing out. What’s impressive is to learn the three-story house features 16 bedrooms, 19 bathrooms, and 24 fireplaces in a house that appears barely big enough for half that many rooms.
Guided tours begin at the guest entrance to the house. Meant to impress guests from the moment of arrival, a long hallway with a marble floor, beautiful furniture, and fancy lamps stretches across the house.
The tour included an ascent up a cantilevered staircase to the second-floor Elizabeth Ireland Poe Gallery. The Parker Barrington Poe Collection showcased some of the 700 works of art purchased by Poe’s husband. Some of the works included paintings by Graham Sutherland, the artist commissioned for a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill for his 80th birthday.
Throughout the house, high ceilings were offset by lengthy drapes, epically tall furniture, and full-height bookcases. Sporting themed artwork hung on the walls and filled small spaces in nooks and crannies. The furniture was opulent and had been spared no expense by the previous owners.
The tour, which included visits to waiting rooms, bedrooms, and dining spaces, ended in a gorgeous room in the east loggia wing of the house. Surrounded by towering windows, flooded with natural light, it was a common room for entertaining that would have kept me quite happy while reading a book for hours at a time.
The Grounds Self-Guided Tour
At Pebble Hill Plantation the only thing better than the guided tour of the house is the self-guided tour of the grounds. Armed with a map of the property from the Visitor’s Center and with nothing but time to kill, I explored around the Main House and beyond.
It was difficult to know what to make of the tunnel arbor. It must have taken years, perhaps decades, to grow the vines across the structure to create a tunnel through the formal garden. I came out of the tunnel at the east entrance to the house where I found the house just as charming on the outside as inside.
Throughout spring each year, dozens of azalea bushes bloom around the gardens surrounding the house. The kitchen garden, leading to the quaint Overflow Cottage once used by guests of the plantation’s owners, is still kept as a source of vegetables. Far from the highway, surrounded by old buildings and even older nature, the atmosphere around the grounds was perfectly peaceful.
Nearly a dozen historic structures still stand on the property, including The Stable Complex where Elizabeth Ireland Poe worked with horses, The Waldorf where the staff did the laundry and cooked their own meals, and the Fire Engine House where you can see an antique firefighting apparatus on display.
Firehouse Apartment
Visiting Pebble Hill Plantation, taking a guided tour of the Main House, and walking around the grounds was thrilling enough for me. But then, I learned the historic Fire Engine House had a second-floor apartment available for overnight use. Can you imagine how excited I was to book a night at the Firehouse Apartment?
It’s always an odd feeling to explore an attraction after hours when the crowds, and even the employees, are gone for the day. But that odd feeling put a smile on my face as I walked the grounds around the Main House just before sunset without seeing another living soul in sight.
The one-bedroom Firehouse Apartment includes a fully furnished kitchen, living room, and bathroom.
Overflow Cottage
Despite having 16 bedrooms, from time to time the Main House would be filled to capacity. The Overflow Cottage was used as an additional space for guests. In 2008, the cottage was completely renovated for use as an overnight accommodation.
The two-story house features four bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, a fully furnished kitchen and living room, and a gun room/home office. The house also has a screened-in porch overlooking the kitchen garden.
