Cemeteries, Georgia, National Register of Historic Places

The Ghostly Image and Travels of Ida Bennett Bass-Rome and Atlanta, Georgia

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Ida Bennett Bass was the daughter of prominent Atlantans, Benjamin and Mary Elizabeth Bennett. She married Charles Bass, who was from a prominent Rome family. They had four children, but only one lived past infancy. During her third pregnancy, she died during childbirth while giving birth to twins. The son, Edward, died the next day, and her daughter Miriam lived another two months.

Ida’s parents refused to bury their child in Rome and brought her to Atlanta to be buried in Oakland Cemetery. One story about Ida is that her ghost will travel from Atlanta to visit her children and husband who are buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery in Rome.

Edward Bass in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

Another story about Ida is that when the house she lived in caught on fire, one wall was untouched. When workers went to remove a mirror, they found an image of a mother holding two infants.

Charles Bass and his second wife, Marjorie, are buried in Myrtle Hill Cemetery.

The daughter Miriam is buried in Oakland Cemetery.

Abandoned, Alabama, Houses, National Register of Historic Places

Miller-Anthorne-Williams House-Eufaula, Alabama

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The Miller-Anthorne-Williams House is a one-story hipped roof house with Greek Revival details. Built in the years immediately after the Civil War, it is a contributing property to the Lore Historic District in Eufaula.

Abandoned, Alabama, Historic Photos, National Register of Historic Places

Cowan-Ramser House-Eufaula, Alabama

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This Greek Revival home was built in the 1840s for Dr. William Lockhart Cowan. William Cowan and his wife, Anna, had eight children. Five of them lived to adulthood. Their second eldest daughter, Laura, married a local doctor, Dr. Robert Fleming. Fleming moved into the Cowan home. Known as a sleepwalker, he awoke one night and fell off the balcony. Paralyzed by the fall, he and his wife moved to live with his relative to get care. Her mother and sister followed them.

The family sold the home to Jacob Ramser, a Swiss craftsman. Ramser was known for his carpentry skills. He built the first theater in town.

The Ramser family lived in the home until they sold it to the White family, who turned it into a funeral home. The Colonel White and Sons Funeral Home was in business until 2004. The building has been vacant since. It is listed as an Alabama Place of Peril. It’s sustained damage from storms, and the roof has been breached.

In the background, you can see the historic Black lodge, the St. Matthew Lodge.

It was documented in 1934 as part of the Historic American Building Survey. It is one of the last remaining Greek Revival homes in the area.

Abandoned, Alabama

St. Matthew Lodge No.5-Eufaula, Alabama

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The St. Matthew Lodge No. 5 in Eufaula, Alabama, was one of ten Colored Lodges already in existence in the state before the Prince Hall Lodges officially began in Alabama in 1870. This lodge worked under the National Compact Grand Lodge.

I realized as I was looking at the HABS photos of the Cowan-Ramser House that you can see the St. Matthew Lodge in the background. This means the building has been around since at least 1934.
Alabama, Houses, National Register of Historic Places

Octagon House-Clayton, Alabama

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The Petty-Roberts House, commonly known as The Octagon House, is one of two octagon houses built in Alabama. It is the only one that still stands. The home was built between 1859 and 1861 using a method called “gravel walls,” a mixture of sand, gravel, and water. The seventeen-inch thick walls helped keep the house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is a three-story home with a cupola. A basement serves as a living space, too. At the time of the 1860 Slave Census, Petty enslaved two men in their thirties. I could not find any information as to where they stayed on the property.

During the Civil War, it was occupied by Union Brevet Maj. Gen. Benjamin H. Grierson. Benjamin Franklin Perry, the first owner of the home, offered it to the Union troops in hopes it wouldn’t be destroyed while the town of Clayton was occupied.

A fuller history of the house can be read on the Encyclopedia of Alabama’s website.

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