Rembering the History at the Magee Farm with Farm House part of Alabama History
Written by MichaelZ on October 30, 2009 – 9:12 pm -In 1848 Jacob Magee built a farmhouse and related buildings constructed by black slave labor for his family. The construction of the house and buildings was of such high quality that from that date to the present day the house has needed little help or repair from that day to the present. The 2 story house was the home of four different families over the years before becoming a living history and museum site for the city of Kushla. The Magree Farm is one of those places that you will want to put on your Alabama Tourism schedule.
Besides the main house there was a store; post office, bathhouse and school room on the complex. However the only remaining buildings are the homestead and the schoolroom - the history of those times lives on with the displays that are set for you to see. Today one of the top attractions in Alabama, when built, it was the largest private residence for many counties when it was completed.
The primary homestead was designed with some interesting plans. There is a front porch that has two bedroom doors leading onto it. One of these bedrooms has a door on the porch but no entrance into the main portion of the house. It was built to offer travelers and guests that were non family members a safe place to sleep without them being able to enter the family’s private areas. The other bedroom has an entry on the veranda but also one that opens into the formal living area. Of course this extra bedroom was used by family members that arrived to visit or acquaintances that the family wanted to allow access to the interior of the house.
There is also a parlor room that could be closed off with either a curtain or by closing the sliding wooden doors. The foyer of the house opened into both the center and the front porch. The schoolroom is attached to the back veranada. This building is now the museum for the facility. On the second floor are two large sleeping rooms, each with their own fireplace. For warmth, the home has a total of five fireplaces. Imagine chopping enough firewood to maintain five fireplaces running all winter!!
The kitchen was out back but attached to the rest of the house by the rear porch. It was common to have the cookhouse removed from the home proper to keep the heat out of the main house. Next to the cookhouse is the outhouse so when the outhouse needed to be used it could be quite a run in the dark or cold to get to the outhouse when nature called.
The farmstead is also the site of the Living History and Battle Reenactment - both in the spring and the fall.
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