Rembering the Heritage at the Magee Farm with Farm House part of Alabama Tourism
Rembering the Pat at the Magee Farm with Farm House part of Alabama Tourism
In 1848 Mr. Jacob built a farmhouse and related building constructed with 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 needed minimal help or repair from that day to the present. The 2 story house was the home of four different families over the years before being designated a living history and museum site for the city of Kushla. The Magee Farm is one of those attractions that you will want to include on your Alabama travel guide schedule.
Along side the main house there was also a store; post office, bath house and school room on the complex. Although the only remaining buildings are the homestead and the schoolroom – the heritage of those times lives on with the exhibits that are presented for you to see. It was the largest private homestead for several counties when it was finished.
The main homestead was designed with some interesting designs. There is a center porch that has 2 bedroom doors leading onto it. One of these bedrooms has a doorway on the porch but no entryway into the main portion of the house. It was designed to offer travelers and guests that were non family members a safe room to reside without them being able to access the family’s private areas. The other bedroom has a door on the porch but also one that leads 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 have access to the interior of the house.
There is another parlor that could be closed off with either a curtain or by closing the sliding pocket doors. The foyer of the house opened onto both the center and the front porch. The school room is attached to the back veranada. This building is now the museum of the property. On the second floor are two large sleeping rooms, each including their own fireplace. For heat, the house has a total of five fireplaces. Imagine cutting enough firewood to maintain five fireplaces burning all winter!!
The cookhouse was out back but connected to the rest of the house by the back porch. It was common to have the cookhouse removed from the house proper to keep the heat out of the main house. Behind the cookhouse is the outhouse so when the facilities needed to be used it could require quite a walk in the dark or cold to get to the outhouse when nature called.
Today, it is on the most popular Alabama attractions. The farmstead is also the location of the Living History and Battle Reenactment – both in the spring and the fall.
