Thornhill (Forkland, Alabama)

This article is about the Thornhill plantation in Forkland. For the one in Talladega, see Thornhill (Talladega, Alabama). For other uses, see Thornhill (disambiguation).
Thornhill

The front elevation of the main house in 2010
Nearest city Forkland, Alabama
Coordinates 32°41′18″N 87°55′45″W / 32.68833°N 87.92917°W / 32.68833; -87.92917Coordinates: 32°41′18″N 87°55′45″W / 32.68833°N 87.92917°W / 32.68833; -87.92917
Built 1833
Architect William Nichols
Architectural style Greek Revival
NRHP Reference # 84000618[1]
Added to NRHP May 10, 1984

Thornhill is a historic plantation near Forkland, Alabama. The Greek Revival main house was built in 1833 by James Innes Thornton.[2] The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 10, 1984.[1]

History

James Innes Thornton was born October 28, 1800, at the Thornton family plantation known as Fall Hill, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was educated at Washington and Lee University and then emigrated to Huntsville, Alabama. He began to practice law there in 1820. He was elected as Alabama's third secretary of state in 1824 and remained in that position until 1834. After this he retired from public life and became a planter in Greene County. Thornton married Mary Amelia Glover in 1825, daughter of Allen and Sarah Norwood Glover of Demopolis.[2] They had two children. Her brother, Williamson Allen Glover, developed the neighboring plantation known as Rosemount. Mary died after only a few years, in 1831 Thornton remarried to Anne Amelia Smith of Dumfries, Virginia. Anne died in 1864, he then remarried in 1870 for a third and final time to Mrs. Sarah Williams Gould Gowdy, daughter of William Proctor and Eliza Chotard Gould of the Hill of Howth, Boligee. Thornton died at Thornhill on September 13, 1877.[2]

Regarding the Thornton connection to George Washington, Mildred Washington Gregory, George Washington's paternal aunt and godmother, had three daughters who married three Thornton brothers. Mildred Gregory's daughter Frances (circ. 1720-1790)(first cousin of George Washington) married Col. Francis Thornton III (circ. 1711-1748) of Fall Hill. They were the great grandparents of James Innes Thornton.

Thornhill Plantation was developed as a cotton plantation in the early 1830s and extended over 2,600 acres (11 km2). It utilized the labor of 156 slaves by 1860. About a third of the slaves lived in quarters behind the plantation house.[3] According to the diary of Josiah Gorgas, in talking with Thornton at Thornhill on Tuesday, June 6, 1865, less than two months after the end of the Civil War, Thornton "oppos(ed) ... the doctrine of secession and necessary deduction that we fought so valiantly (in the War) and bled so freely in a cause radically wrong." Gorgas pointed out however, "He has, I learn however, done his share to sustain the war, & perhaps that consciousness makes him talk the more freely of his former views"[4]

Architecture

The plantation schoolhouse at Thornhill, built circa 1845.

William Nichols is believed to be the architect of the main house at Thornhill. Nichols became the state architect of Alabama in 1827. He is known for designing the now-destroyed Alabama State Capitol building at Tuscaloosa and the former Mississippi State Capitol building in Jackson, Mississippi. The house at Thornhill was completed by 1833. The monumental two-story portico with six Ionic columns was added circa 1850. David Rinehart Anthony, of Eutaw, is believed to be the builder who made the portico addition and second story balcony (crisscrossed lattice railing). The house measures 55 feet (17 m) wide. Inside is a 14 ft (4.3 m) wide by 40 ft (12 m) long central hall with a spiral staircase at the back. There are two rooms to either side. The left front room was the parlor, with the dining room behind it. On the front right was the master bedroom with the plantation office behind it. Upstairs is a matching hall and four bedrooms. All eight rooms are 19.5 feet (5.9 m) square. The downstairs rooms have 12-foot (3.7 m) ceilings. The upstairs ceilings are 11 feet (3.4 m).

Originally there was a brick kitchen behind the house, it later burned. Additions were made to the original structure from circa 1890 to 1949. They were razed in 1994 and rebuilt to better match the original intent of the house. The house and grounds were extensively recorded by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934.[5] The plantation schoolhouse was constructed circa 1845. The Thornton children, as well as neighboring plantation children, were taught there. Surrounding the schoolhouse are 230-year-old post oaks.

Family Cemetery

The main staircase at the rear of the downstairs central hall.
Gate to the family cemetery in September 2011, following damage from a tornado on the grounds.

Buried in the family cemetery, located a few hundred feet east of the main house, are:[6]

Grandson James Innes Thornton (March 10, 1873 - July 23, 1951) was re-interred in Eutaw's Mesopotamia Cemetery, next to his second wife, Helen Williamson Allison Thornton (February 15, 1890 – December 12, 1963). His first wife, Betty Woolf Thornton (April 23, 1887 – September 22, 1932), was re-interred in the Dayton Cemetery.

Thornton's first wife, Mary Amelia Glover Thornton, is buried in the Glover Mausoleum at Riverside Cemetery, Demopolis. His third wife, Sarah Williams Gould Gowdy Thornton (June 11, 1824 – August 23, 1885), is buried in the Bethsalem Cemetery, Boligee.

See also

Media related to Thornhill Plantation at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. 1 2 National Park Service (2008-04-15). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 3 "Alabama's Secretary of State: James Innes Thornton". Alabama Department of Archives & History. 21 August 2007. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  3. ↑ "Thornhill Plantation, Greene County, Alabama.". American Memory Collection. Library of Congress. Retrieved 24 November 2008.
  4. ↑ Wiggins, Sarah Woolfolk (1995). The journals of Josiah Gorgas, 1857-1878. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. ISBN 0-585-16196-8.
  5. ↑ "Thornhill Plantation, County Road 19, Watsonia, Greene County, AL". Historic American Buildings Survey. Library of Congress. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  6. ↑ Jacobson, Kim (October 2007). "Thornhill Plantation Cemetery". Magnolias and Peaches website. Retrieved 2008-12-31.
  7. ↑ Glass, Mary Morgan; Greene County Historical Society (1977). A goodly heritage : memories of Greene County. Clarkesville, Tennessee: Josten's. OCLC 3168829.
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