Center for Public History, University of West Georgia
Mark Barron and Rebecca Glasgow record measurments for the Williams farmhouse, summer 2002.
Once a prospering dairy and cotton farm, the Williams-Mitchell farm sits on the edge of the growing city of Villa Rica, in northern Carroll County. The present owners would like to preserve this farm to tell the story of Carroll County’s rich rural history. With its well-preserved 1892 house and an excellent collection of farm buildings, this farm tells important stories about cotton farming and the emergence of more progressive agricultural practices in the Georgia Piedmont in the early twentieth century. In addition, the property contains a CCC camp established here in 1937 to help struggling farmers conserve their old cotton fields.
In the summer of 2002, Center Director Ann McCleary and research assistants Mark Barron and Rebecca Glasgow began to document this farmstead and family history through oral interviews, historical research, and architectural analysis of the extant buildings. Graduate student Terri Lotti developed a GIS map and description of the farm property in the spring of 2003 and documented the Civilian Conservation Corps camp that once stood on the property for her M.A. thesis project. More recently, the Center has developed a report on on the farm’s history, archived a collection of documents and family papers from the Williams family, and prepared an interpretive plan synopsis for this important history site.
For more information on this project, contact project director Dr. Ann McCleary at 678-839-6141.
[Center for Public History Home Page] [return to Center Projects] [Contact Us]