Westover
Why it's listed
Westover is a former cotton-belt plantation of about 40 acres north of Milledgeville, Georgia, established around 1822 by planter Benjamin S. Jordan. The main house burned in 1954 and a reproduction now sits on the original foundations, but the surrounding landscape and service buildings remain. Formal front gardens use geometric planting beds, boxwood hedges, low brick curbs, circular and straight paths, and an antebellum picket fence. Some cedar and magnolia trees have been core-dated to the 1820s. Behind the house stand a commissary, smokehouse, the two ends of a detached kitchen and two slave houses, several framed with unusual L-shaped, hand-hewn corner posts. A brick plantation office, cisterns, a spring house and an unmarked slave cemetery complete the complex. The property was listed for its rare surviving formal antebellum landscaping, its outbuildings, and its potential to reveal more about plantation and enslaved life through archaeology.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues that Westover has one of only about half a dozen documented surviving examples of formal antebellum landscaping in Georgia. It also keeps rare antebellum plantation outbuildings with unusual L-shaped hand-hewn corner posts. Its undisturbed grounds, cisterns, sites of lost outbuildings and slave cemetery are judged likely to yield archaeological information about plantation and slave life.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 87000094, listed February 12, 1987. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 151 Meriwether Rd. NW, Milledge |
|---|---|
| County | Baldwin County |
| Listed | February 12, 1987 |
| Reference number | 87000094 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899 |
| Architect / builder | unknown (plantation buildings constructed by Benjamin S. Jordan) |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Landscape Architecture, Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied as a private residence. The original house burned in 1954 and was replaced on its foundations by a non-historic reproduction. Condition is described as good to fair. |
| Acreage | 40.4 |
| Coordinates | 33.13057, -83.29532 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 87000094.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q22026276
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.