Godfrey Barnsley, an English-born Savannah-based cotton merchant, built Barnsley Gardens in 1840 on land ceded by the Creek nation. He believed this land in the north Georgia piedmont would be a healthier climate than the hot, mosquito-laden low country along the coast. Barnsley intended the house as a gift for his wife, Savannah socialite Julia Scarborough. The house, known as the Woodlands, was architecturally quite different from the typical prosperous Georgia plantation of the period. Designed with Italianate as opposed to Greek Revival influences, the magnificent landscaping and intricate boxwood parterre garden showed the influence of Andrew Jackson Downing, one of America’s early landscape architects and horticulturalists.
Barnsley, a man with obvious Southern sympathies, had two sons in the Confederate army and a daughter married to a Confederate officer. On May 18, 1864, while attempting to warn Barnsley of the Federals’ approach, Confederate cavalry officer Colonel Richard G. Earle was shot dead in the yard. This precipitated a cavalry skirmish on the grounds between Earle’s men and advance units of Federal cavalry. The skirmish was depicted on the Northern newspaper Harper’s Weekly pages.
Charles Wright Willis, of the 103rd Illinois Infantry, wrote this account of the event in his book Army Life of an Illinois Soldier: “May 18, 1864. Our cavalry had a sharp fight here the P.M. and on one of the gravel walks in the beautiful garden lies a Rebel colonel, shot in five places.” Colonel Earle was laid to rest in a prominent place in the perennial garden and remains there today.
Major General James B. McPherson spent the night of May 18 in the home. Although he forbade looting, Barnsley’s Irish maid Mary Quinn is recorded to have referred to McPherson as a gentleman surrounded by rogues and thieves as statuary was smashed, windows and china broken, and wine and stored foods consumed or stolen. Woodlands, however, remained intact until a 1906 tornado tore away the main house’s roof, leaving only the kitchen wing untouched.
Today, the estate is an upscale golfing destination with outstanding dining and fine accommodations. It also houses the Barnsley Family History Museum and world-class gardens.