Melrose and Sinkola Plantations

Melrose and Sinkola Plantations form a 1,500-acre estate southwest of Thomasville, Georgia, divided by US Highway 319. The oldest part is an antebellum log house, later weatherboarded, that was enlarged around 1900 with wings and became the main house at Melrose. Beginning in 1923, the Cleveland firm Walker and Weeks designed red-brick Georgian Revival stables, barns, garages, a walled garden, greenhouse and several cottages, along with a manager's house at Sinkola and the Owl's Nest guest house. Other features include a private theater called the Showboat and a pool house. The land was managed as pine and oak forest with fields kept for quail, reflecting early private conservation work. Northern industrialists, especially the Hanna family from Ohio, bought the property in the 1890s and used it for winter residence, riding and hunting. The estate is recognized for its architecture, conservation, recreation and social history between the 1820s and 1939.