{"nrhp_refnum":"73000644","name":"Towns, George W. B., House","other_names":["Towns-Persons-Page House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"GA 208","address_restricted":false,"city":"Talbotton","county":"Talbot County","state":"GA","lat":32.67883299700003,"lon":-84.54575486499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-05-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Politics/Government","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame plantation house on State Highway 208 in Talbotton, Talbot County, Georgia, begun in 1828 for George Washington Bonaparte Towns and enlarged over later decades, with a brick kitchen and privy behind it.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as an example of how Georgia vernacular architecture changed as a family's needs and tastes grew. It is also tied to Towns, an early Talbotton settler, lawyer, congressman and Governor of Georgia from 1847 to 1851. Reviewers saw it as a marginal house, but one with value as a development of styles and as a lawmaker's house.","narrative":"Begun in 1828, this two-story frame house in Talbotton, Georgia, began as a plain-style plantation dwelling built for George Washington Bonaparte Towns, an early settler and town commissioner. Towns became a successful lawyer, state legislator, congressman and, from 1847 to 1851, Governor of Georgia. A second two-story, three-bay house was later added behind the first, making an L-shaped plan, and a four-columned Ionic portico was added to the front, probably after 1838. Twentieth-century rooms and a hipped roof came later. Inside are a wainscotted parlor with a plaster ceiling medallion, late Federal mantels, a cross hall and a former ballroom. Behind the house stand the original brick kitchen and a seven-seat brick privy, of which a replica was built at Stone Mountain State Park. The Persons family owned the property from about 1852-54 until 1968. The house is valued as an example of vernacular architecture evolving with a family, and for its link to Towns.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1828)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Vernacular plantation plain style with a later Ionic portico and late Federal mantels","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, altered, on its original site, and occupied as a private residence.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.170283-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/73000644.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000644/3d434536c5-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000644/3d434536c5-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rivers Langley; SaveRivers","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_W._B._Towns_House;_Talbotton,_GA_(NRHP).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Rivers Langley; SaveRivers</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_W._B._Towns_House;_Talbotton,_GA_(NRHP).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209558","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134457972"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/talbot-county/towns-george-w-b-house-73000644/"}