In July 2020, the antebellum mansion once home to the Stevens family burned to the ground after a lightning strike. The Greek Revival home was built in the 1850s in what became known as Stevens Pottery, Georgia. It was likely built with enslaved labor since the 1860 Slave Census listed the family holding 13 men, women, and children in bondage.
The current home looks quite similar to the old structure but with additional wings added to each side. Below is an image from Georgia’s Natural, Archaeological, and Historic Resources GIS website.
Founded by Henry Stevens in Baldwin County, “The Pottery,” as it was once known, built up around a sawmill and pottery. After the Civil War, the saw mill and pottery was the largest industry in Baldwin County. Remnants of the old pottery can still be seen through a fence and overgrowth.
I became interested in Stevens Pottery because I told that the Stephens Grave Covers were likely made and fired here, so I decided to visit the community. It does not seem that the two families are connected.
Built in 1854 as a brick Georgian cottage, the Gothic Revival details were added after the Civil War. Atherates and Martha Atkinson raised 14 children in this home.
Photo courtesy of The Georgia ArchivesPhoto of Atkinson family in front of home
The “Bubble” House went viral this year after it was featured on Zillow Gone Wild. It’s more commonly known as the “Round House,” but that name is too boring. I think it looks like a hippity hop. With lakefront views, this plump house is a three-story, three-bedroom, three-bath wonder that was built in 1977.
I’ve seen no mention of who the architect or the builder were. Update: Thankfully, I shared a photo of the house in a Facebook group, and I was able to find out the architect. According to Liz Petty, “Robert W and Ida Rugenstein. They both worked in designing men’s slacks. CAMPUS Company based in New York. /hey were from Ohio but lived in many places where work took them. He was of German descent and she of Italian descent. As I said I worked with them, they used me to model slacks, made pictures and sent with pattern info to NY for production approval. They were great people.” Below I’ve posted a link and the text to Robert and Ida’s obituaries.
No one has lived there since the 1990s. It’s also been on the market for almost two years. Someone needs to buy this house, restore it, and list it in AirBNB.
Robert was born in Indianapolis Indiana to August and Dorothy Rugenstein. He had an older sister, Edith. His mother passed away when he was 7 years old. His dad remarried and had two more kids, Charmayne and Edwin.
August was a printer and when the depression hit he had no work. The family was split up; Robert and Edith were cared for by Aunt Emma. Robert took whatever jobs he could find, (first being in a slaughter house washing cattle butts at 25 cents a day). The government had started the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program and Robert was sent off to Bend/Redman Oregon to work in the forests. He graduated high school in Redman, Oregon.
Upon completing CCC he took a job building a new highway. The Alaska Highway, and went off to Canada and Alaska. He worked primarily as a lineman installing poles and power/communication lines. During that time he was injured in a dynamite blast but stayed on the job. It was so cold they had to blast pole holes. Note; IF the temperature dropped to -50f they didn’t have to go out and work.
When WW2 broke out Robert signed up with the US Army. He was sent to India and worked in Burma, China mostly with the British Army. He traveled to several areas, including the “Hump” into China. Worked with the headhunters that were hired to kill Japanese, installed power and communication for the Army and stayed in the area for the entire war. During this time he was electrocuted while working on a pole and was saved by a local worker who knocked him off the powerline.
At the end of the war he returned to Indiana (discharged Jan 6, 1946) and subsequently met Rosemary Hasty, they were married in Dec 1945 and had 3 kids, (Mark, Warren and Kathryn). Initially they lived in Fort Wayne, moved to Roanoke and around 1960 moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan. Robert worked several jobs ending up in the clothing trade as a cutter. He progressed to operations and design.
After moving to Kansas City area about 1962 he worked as VP for production at a local clothing manufacturer. That company folded around 1964 and he moved on to several different companies, different cities and locations over the years.
In 1964 he was divorced and married Ida, they remained married until her death (over 50 years). At approximately 55 years old Robert quit working and joined the International Executive Service Corps (IESC), [an executive peace corps] He along with his key aide, Ida, would go to different countries for one to three months to train personnel on how to design, run and produce clothing products for international sales. They weren’t paid for their work but all expenses were paid. He still holds the record of over 47 trips to other countries to assist in the design, production and overall operation of textile companies in the clothing manufacturing. He and his wife, Ida, were awarded a special award by the US President for their work overseas. He wrote a book in “Executive Peace Corps” about their adventures with IESC.
During his life he was always “thinking” and had several patents (from solar, to car covers, to cutting machines). He had the knack of building his own homes with unique (ball and round) designs. He would design them on legal paper, order materials, build the home and the left over waste material was minimal (fit in one wheel barrel). He was trained as a blacksmith early in life, ran a farm, made concrete tiles, build and renovated homes and was always thinking of improvements or different ways to accomplish ideas. He was a long time member of the Shriners, (he assisted in a kids getting specialized Shriner’s Hospital care while he was overseas). He was a member of Mensa as well.
Robert lived a full active life and had worked in over 50 countries, traveled around the world (couple of times) and was always looking for adventure.
Robert moved to Hawaii after Ida passed away (Jan 9, 2019) in 2019.
Ida (Vazzano) Rugenstein, 91, passed away January 9, 2019. She is survived by her husband, Robert W. Rugenstein; her children, Dominic and Donna Saragusa, Connie and Frank Jiabia, Mark and Bing Rugenstein; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; and her sisters, Mary Vazzano Hannan and Clara Vazzano Stegmaier (David).
Ida was a great cook and a terrific seamstress. She was a World Volunteer for IESC and enjoyed traveling the world.
Today was lost our wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister. She was an amazing woman. She had a zeal for life and we will never forget the stories she told about the people she met and the places she had seen while traveling all over the world with her husband. Her infectious laugh and vibrant smile will be remembered forever. We will love her always.
Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King moved into this home on Sunset Avenue in 1965. The home was built in 1933 in a racially mixed neighborhood. As whites began to leave the neighborhood, many prominent Black Atlantans like Alonzo Herndon and Julian Bond called Vine City home.
Mrs. King continued to live in the home until 2004. It was here where she founded the King Center. The King family continued to own the home until the property was purchased by the National Park Service in 2019. It will eventually be opened as a house museum like his birth home.
The swing set is one of the many original items left on the property.
White Oaks was completed in 1926 for the Bolling and Dorothy Jones family. At the time, this area was considered in the country and far from downtown Atlanta. This West Paces Ferry Road home was designed by architects Pringle and Smith. When stopped in traffic, the home on the hill provides for one of the more beautiful views on West Paces.
Dorothy Jones lived in the home until she passed in 1996. Since then, White Oaks has been listed for sale a few times. Each time, the new owners updated or added to the home. Property photos from the last sale can be seen here.
This website is two and a half years old, but I have been photographing for several years, which means I made many posts this year that are not of images I took in 2023. This post highlights the most popular images that I took (or shared) and made posts of in 2023. It is a mixture of images I have taken or posts I have created out of public domain images. Click on the header above each photo to see the full post.
The photos I took in Alabama, Tennessee, and Florida didn’t gain traction like those in Georgia and South Carolina, most likely due to the sheer volume of photos I have taken in Georgia and South Carolina, which has created a larger following. I did want to share one of my favorites from a trip to Reliance, Tennessee.
