{"nrhp_refnum":"80004448","name":"Strother's Farm","other_names":["Massee Lane/Camellia Gardens"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Rt. 3","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fort Valley","county":"Peach County","state":"GA","lat":32.48839891400007,"lon":-83.92581654099996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-11-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Massee Lane, historically Strother's Farm, is a formal camellia garden complex with a Williamsburg-style headquarters building on Route 3 near Fort Valley, Peach County, Georgia. The gardens were begun in 1936 by Dave Strother on part of an early plantation.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the gardens are one of the highest expressions of Marshallville's interest in landscape architecture. Camellias came to the community around 1850, and small formal gardens survive near many houses. Although the period of significance is less than 50 years old, the form says the gardens merit inclusion for their great artistic value and their link to a long-standing community interest.","narrative":"Massee Lane is a pair of formal gardens set in front of and behind a Williamsburg-style headquarters building on Route 3 near Fort Valley. The land was once part of Needham Massee's plantation, settled in 1827. Dave Strother acquired a portion in the early 1900s and grew peaches until a 1936 storm destroyed his farm. Rather than replant, he began designing formal camellia gardens. Brick walks run throughout, and millstones and mile posts often mark the paths. Besides camellias, the plantings include daffodils, day lilies, magnolias, gardenias, Confederate jasmines, tea olives and roses. Marshallville hosted several large camellia shows in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1966 Strother donated his farm and a sum of cash for a headquarters building to the American Camellia Society, which has used it since. The gardens were listed as an expression of the area's interest in landscape architecture, despite their relatively recent date. The grounds are in excellent condition.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Dave Strother","architectural_style":"Williamsburg style (headquarters building)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in excellent condition; current use is botanical garden and museum, and it serves as the headquarters of the American Camellia Society.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.220481-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/80004448.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004448/e11720ae58-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80004448/e11720ae58-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jud McCranie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strother%27s_Farm,_Peach_County,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jud McCranie</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:Strother%27s_Farm,_Peach_County,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206558","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q134440881"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/peach-county/strothers-farm-80004448/"}