This wonderful Greek Revival house is the centerpiece of what is today known as the Teel-Crawford-Gaston Plantation or, more practically, the Gaston farm. The historical background that follows (in italics) comes from the 2004 National Register of Historic Places registration form. The farm represents two major periods in the history of Georgia agriculture, the plantation system and the the tenant farming system. John Teel purchased the property in 1836 and built the main house by 1840. He established a plantation where, by 1850, he lived with his wife, nine children, and 16 slaves. In 1852, Teel sold the plantation to Shadrack and Lucina Crawford, who after the Civil War turned the property from a plantation based on slave labor to a farm based on the tenant system.
The Crawfords sold the farm to Robert B. Gaston in 1918, who farmed there until his death in 1925. Gaston worked the land with mules and relied on the labor of tenant farmers. Gaston built the existing outbuilding complex to support the operation, most of which survives. James Monroe Gaston, Jr., Robert’s grandson, continues to farm the property to this day.
National Register of Historic Places
