1. JUL/AUG 2015 • DESIGN&BUILD MAGAZINE22
O
InspiringPlacesBeautifulSpaces
Where Quail is King
Our caravan is traveling down the Monticello-Boston
road, a long, flat ribbon of asphalt cutting through the sparsely pop-
ulated, south Georgia piney woods. We are passing picture-book
scenery in search of Seminole Plantation, a quail hunting preserve
that dates to the late 1850s. Today, the privately owned planta-
tion remains intact as a country getaway, where family and friends
gather to relax and enjoy the sporting life. Bryan Knox, the grand-
son of Rankin Smith, Sr. considers Seminole a special part of his
heritage, earning a degree in Forestry from the Warnell School of
Forestry and Natural Resources at University of Georgia to assist
in overseeing the management of the 9000 acre plantation. The
Red Hills region of Georgia is home to the largest stand of old
growth, long leaf pine trees in the country, so the importance of
management is understandable.
The history of Seminole Plantation dates back to the mid-
1800’s. According to Ann Harrington of the Thomasville History
Museum, the land was acquired by Major Josiah Jefferson Everitt,
who moved to Thomas County in 1839. Everitt and his wife,
Harriet Ann Archer, named their plantation Ashland. The house is
Seminole Plantation is a treasured
part of the family of Rankin Smith, Sr.
who purchased it in 1979. This idyl-
lic retreat is nestled in the Red Hills
region of south Georgia just slightly
east of Thomasville, amongst majes-
tic, old-growth, longleaf pines, and
magnolias. Here, the Bobwhite is
king and wild coveys are plentiful.
3. JUL/AUG 2015 • DESIGN&BUILD MAGAZINE24
attributed to John Wind, Thomas County’s premier antebel-
lum architect.
John Barber Everitt, one of twelve children and the only son
to reach adulthood, served in the Confederate Army during
the Civil War. He inherited the home and 275 acres in 1882,
living there a number of years before moving to Louisville,
Georgia. In 1917 Everitt sold Ashland to his great-nephew
William Thomas Mardre. Mardre was the manager of the
famous Greenwood Plantation and served in the state legis-
lature. He renamed the plantation Mardreland and began ac-
quiring additional property to enlarge the original holding.
Seminole’s ownership changed hands again in the 1950s
when the Murchison family of Texas purchased it. They are
attributed with renaming the plantation Seminole, perhaps in
honor of the Indian tribe which populated Florida. In 1979,
Rankin Smith, Sr. - philanthropist, supporter of the Fernbank
Museum and former owner of the Atlanta Falcons purchased
Seminole. The property remains a part of the Smith family
holdings and they continue to enjoy quail hunting and fam-
ily gatherings at their private retreat. Seminole Plantation is
considered a wonderful and important part of the history of
Thomas County and the Smith family are honored caretakers
of the property which is treasured by the entire community.
When they realized the home was suffering from age related
ailments, including chimneys that were becoming structural-
ly unsound, it was time to address the needs of the grande old
house and breathe life back into it.
My tour guide for the day is Charlie Whitney, who turned
his extensive love of history into a lifelong career in the antiq-
uities business, beginning as an auctioneer and later as owner
of C.H. Whitney Antiques. He has now added the title of In-
dependent Restoration Consultant to his resume. Due to his
trained eye for historical accuracy and painstaking attention
to detail, he was retained in 2012 to restore Seminole to its
original state of pristine glory. No easy task when you con-
sider that a home built in the 1850’s was constructed without
power tools. It’s fair to say that Whitney is committed to the
old ways of working to attain a feeling of timelessness.
Seminole is a reflection of a different era, when seasonal
visitors flocked to Thomasville to enjoy the moderate win-
The ladies parlor at Seminole.
4. DESIGN&BUILD MAGAZINE • JUL/AUG 2015 25
ters, escaping the bitter colds of northern locales as soon as
the first snowflake touched the ground. They gathered with
family and friends to enjoy sporting activities such as quail
hunting, horseback riding and social gatherings. In Thom-
asville, these traditions continue to this day, with the quaint
south Georgia town coming to life as the hot summer days
and nights give way to cooler fall breezes.
“It was important to the family to take the house back to
as close to original as possible,” explains Whitney, with his
south Georgia drawl. He is modest and unassuming, howev-
er if a client desires a renovation to accurately reflect the era
in which a building was constructed, Whitney is on many
people’s list to oversee the project. “The Smith family was
very involved in this project from the first and had specific
ideas of what they wanted. We took their ideas and put them
all together, restoring and retaining as much of the original
structure as possible, from the windows to the fireplaces.”
The home is breathtaking in its simplicity, with beautiful
attention to detail. Thomasville decorator Gina Shumake
used many of the Smith’s family pieces, including framed
photographs displayed on the staircase that illustrates the
family history. “I basically took their ideas and put it to-
gether,” said Shumake. “We tried to create a comfortable
feeling that had a Southern feel. The formal furniture from
the 1950’s was replaced with modern furniture that was
comfortable for casual living. We had fun using vintage ma-
terials and the family selected items at Scotts Antique Mar-
ket that integrated well into the furnishings.”
The architecture is a classic four-over-four Georgian style
with 4 bedrooms upstairs, 2 parlors downstairs (men’s &
ladies), a mud room, dining room, kitchen and wide, ex-
pansive hallway shooting straight through the middle of the
house, with an elegant stairway leading upstairs and 13 foot
ceilings. The original kitchen was separate from the main
house and is now the gun and trophy room, as well a guest
bedroom. Built completely from Southern yellow pine har-
vested from the land, mellowed heart pine gleams through-
out the home and is used for flooring and hand rails.
Every detail of the renovation, from designing and craft-
ing of the dining room table from reclaimed heart pine to
Dining room with handmade heart pine table and reproduction period chairs.
5. JUL/AUG 2015 • DESIGN&BUILD MAGAZINE26
remaking necessary pieces of the intricate moldings used
outside for decorative trim was overseen by Whitney. The
moldings and railings as best as possible are all original
throughout the house with necessary replacements created
by the old method of using a single blade to cut and shape
each piece, and the finishing done by blades as well.
“The dining room table and chairs are historically accu-
rate,” says Whitney. “We designed the chairs to be true to
the era and a local craftsman built each one individually.
We replaced the hardware on all the doors and cabinets
and used a special technique to give a patina of age. The
original steel hinges on the doors were still here but they
all had to be removed. We stripped off multiple layers of
paint and then repainted them black.”
The fireplaces were one of the more challenging parts
of the restoration. There are four fireplaces in the house
and they all share the same main flue. The fireplaces
were a concern of the family and for safety, it was nec-
essary to completely refurbish the inside of the flue. The
brickwork around each fireplace inside the home was also
redone, using antique brown brick from Savannah. A to-
tal of 3000 bricks were ordered to ensure enough for the
project. Whitney explained that it is important when using
reclaimed materials to have enough on hand for comple-
tion of the job. “Some bricks get broken and matching the
bricks for color is necessary for the aesthetic appearance.
In addition to the restoration of the fireplaces, an outside
fire pit was built with the remaining bricks.”
It was difficult not to linger once the tour was complete.
The cars were cranked and running long before I was
ready to depart. Seminole Plantation possesses a sense of
comfort, charm and warmth, and is extremely livable with
sporting art and quail figurines of various materials scat-
tered throughout; it is a family home enjoyed by all who
are blessed to visit. For Charlie Whitney, it was a year well
spent. For the Smith’s, the restoration was a completion of
their dream to preserve Seminole for the next generation.
Written by Kim JacksonDB
HISTORICAL RENOVATION: At C.H. Whitney, we real-
ize that every client has a different combination
of assets, limitations and dreams. Our goal is to
understand your unique needs so we can plan
the perfect solution. Whether the project involves
new construction, historical restoration or interior
decorating, we are dedicated to addressing the
specific and individual needs of our clients.
www.chwhitney.com
Where to get the Look
6. DESIGN&BUILD MAGAZINE • JUL/AUG 2015 27
Photo top:
Master Bed-
room.
Below:
Guest bed-
room.
Opposite page
top:
Family photos
line the stair-
case.
Bottom:
Doorknobs
and hardware
were given an
aged patina
to fit the time
period repre-
sented in the
renovation.
