The Bronson House
Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
The Bronson House. Andrew & Mary Ann Clopton Reid's 1852 National Register Greek Revival Mansion's origins reach back to the 1816 "Eagle Tavern Inn." Rising Star Masonic Lodge F & AM Lodge #39 minutes record its first Feast of St. John the Evangelist Festival Day here on Dec. 28, 1818. Thomas T. Napier owned and occupied it by 1820 & by 1822 its tax digest value was $3,500 - while most other buildings in town valued at $500 - $600. Eatonton's famous tavern operator, William Wilkins, R., bought it in 1830 and lost it at sheriff's sale Nov. 3, 1835, to wealthy planter brothers Andrew & Alexander Sydney Reid, who operated it as Reid's Hotel. By 1846 Andrew Reid (1806-1865) owned it alone and by 1848 began the conversion to his private residence. James M. Broadfield (1815-1899) was the carpenter-architect who turned the earlier inn into the Greek house. Twelve massive wooden fluted Doria columns, the massive entrance, interior Egyptian-style door, window & mantel molding & the hallway floor's marbleized squares added sophistication. In 1874, Reid's administrators sold to Francis Asberry Leverette, CSA (1845-1895), appointed U.S. Marshal for the Southern District of Georgia by Pres. Cleveland. Leverette moved to Macon and died there after selling on Feb. 5, 1894 to James M. Rainey, who began renting rooms for $2.00 a day and even housed by 1901 Dr. Hopkins' dental office. Mr. & Mrs. Emerson Foote Bronson rented it from Rainey in 1911 and bought from him in 1914. Bronson relocated from Tennille, GA, in 1908 as the new Central of Ga Railroad Depot Agent. In 1931, his widow Nena Norwood Bronson (1868-1961), converted to a boarding house and then into 7 apartments, including her own. She preserved the property, careful not to remove architectural features. Her daughter Eunice Bronson (Frank P.) Stubbs (1896-1985) inherited, moved in and continued the family preservation tradition. Her six children, in tribute to their grandmother, mother and their preservation interest, sold it on Oct. 10, 1985, to the Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society, Inc. for its headquarters. The Society opened the house on Dec. 14, 1985, for a lavish donors' reception. Erected by The Eatonton-Putnam Co. Historical Society, Inc., April 2001
Erected by Eatonton-Putnam County Historical Society
The Story
Eatonton's Bronson House grew from an 1816 tavern into an elegant Greek Revival mansion, remodeled by 1852 with twelve fluted Doric columns by carpenter-architect James M. Broadfield. Over the decades it served as an inn, a hotel, a private residence, and finally a boarding house, passing through the hands of planters, a U.S. marshal, and railroad agent Emerson Bronson. His widow Nena and later her descendants carefully preserved its architecture before the family gave it to the county historical society in 1985.
Why it matters
Saved across three generations of one family, the house shows how local preservation, often led by women, kept America's antebellum architecture standing into the modern era.
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Related people
- · Andrew Reid
- · Nena Norwood Bronson
- · James M. Broadfield
Themes & tags
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