Bulloch Hall

180 Bulloch Avenue, Roswell, Fulton County, Georgia

Completed in 1840, for Major James Stephens Bulloch (1793-1849) and his second wife, Martha Stewart (1799-1864). Bulloch and his business partner, Roswell King (1765-1844), were cotton planters who moved from Savannah and established the town of Roswell. His home was designed by builder-architect Willis Ball of Windsor, Connecticut (Roswell King's native town) and was built by a combination of trained labourers and Bulloch's slaves - the family owned 31-slaves who worked both in the house and on the fields. The house stood on a 10-acre lot facing the town square, but to the west it enjoyed a magnificent view over the Willeo Creek valley and the hills beyond....

This house is best associated with...

James Stephens Bulloch

Major James Stephens Bulloch of "Bulloch Hall" Roswell, Georgia

1793-1849

Martha Stewart

Mrs "Patsy" Martha (Stewart) Elliott, Bulloch

1799-1864

The Major died in 1849 leaving debts behind him. In February, 1850, an old family friend, Major Archibald Howell (1814-1903), stepped in and purchased the home for $3,350 which allowed Mrs Bulloch and her younger children to remain there. Despite her mother's finances, Mittie recalled that life at Bulloch Hall during her childhood was filled with, "picnics and riding parties, a life spent almost constantly in the out of doors, in all seasons, in unspoiled open country, with sweet-smelling trees and flowers in bloom".

In 1853, the Bulloch's daughter, Mittie, was married in the Dining Room to Theodore Roosevelt Sr. (1831-1878), of New York City. The Roosevelts were the parents of President Theodore Roosevelt Jr. By the following year (1854), Mrs Bulloch had honored her debt to Major Howell and renting the house to Tom King, she moved first to Philadelphia to live with her daughter, Susan, and then on to New York City to live with the Roosevelts.

In 1872, seven years after Mrs Bulloch had died, her executors sold the house to Jason Sylvester Wood whose son, Eugene, took possession in 1888. Just four years later (1892) he sold it to the Laurel Mills Manufacturing Company who six years after that (1898) sold it on to Isaac Roberts. In 1907, it was then purchased by Eugene Wood's brother-in-law, J. Bartow Wing (1861-1917), who had lived there for part of his childhood. He was killed in a car accident just ten years later, but his widow, "Hattie" Mary Virginia Suddath (1875-1971), remained on in the house with their daughter, Ginnie.

Roswell's House Museum & Events Venue

Ginnie married and moved to Tennessee, but her mother stayed on at Bulloch Hall. When Hattie became too old to live there by herself, she went to live in nursing home and the house stood empty. After Hattie died in 1971, the property faced demolition but it was rescued by local businessman Richard S. Myrick who restored it then opened it as a house museum the following year (1972). It closed after just two years and in 1978 the City of Roswell stepped in and they continue to run it today as a museum and events venue.

Styles

Contributed by Mark Meredith on 17/01/2020 and last updated on 17/01/2020.
Seeking Eden: A Collection of Georgia's Historic Gardens (2018), by Staci L. Catron & Mary Ann Eaddy

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