{"nrhp_refnum":"03000173","name":"Fort-Hammond-Willis House","other_names":["The Hammond Place","THe Willis House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1760 Irwinton rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Milledgeville","county":"Baldwin County","state":"GA","lat":33.057246089000046,"lon":-83.22942653299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-03-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A private single-dwelling frame house at 1760 Irwinton Road (U.S. 441 South) in the Midway (later Hardwick) community just south of Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, built about 1828-1835 and attributed to builder John Marlor.","why_significant":"The central block is a good, relatively large example of an early 19th-century Georgian Cottage-type house with surviving 1830s mantels, doors, floors and room arrangement, and an exceptional Greek Revival front doorway. It is also tied to a series of public-minded owners, including Judge Moses Fort, the Hammond family and postmistress Estelle Willis, and to nearby Midway Seminary, for which it served as a boarding house.","narrative":"Just south of Milledgeville, this wood-frame house began as a four-room, central-hall, one-story antebellum dwelling and grew into a large, rambling residence through additions made from the late 19th century to 1945. The oldest block, attributed to Milledgeville builder John Marlor, retains original mantels, doors, floors and room layout, along with a Greek Revival front doorway with dentilled cornice, pilasters and sidelights. Faux marbleizing survives along baseboards and on mantels. Judge Moses Fort, its presumed first owner, built it between about 1828 and 1835. His widow ran it as a boarding house for students and faculty of Midway Seminary across the road. The Hammond family, including a long-serving county probate judge, later lived here, and Estelle Willis, who served decades as local postmistress, followed. The property also keeps a well house, a garden cottage and a barn, with mature magnolias, cedars and camellias in the yard.","period_of_significance":"C. 1828-1953","architect_builder":"attributed to John Marlor (1782-1835)","architectural_style":"Mid-19th Century: Greek Revival (style); Georgia Cottage (house type)","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling and also listed with a hotel function; the well house, garden cottage and barn are used for storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.752316-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/03000173.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000173/66648e1ff9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000173/66648e1ff9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Blastoids","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort-Hammond-Willia_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Blastoids</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fort-Hammond-Willia_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206855","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134078549"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/baldwin-county/fort-hammond-willis-house-03000173/"}