Funding to help save historic Hamilton House

Published 11:30 pm Thursday, September 28, 2006

The first hurdle in the race to save the Hamilton House, Dalton’s oldest brick home, has been successfully passed.

The house contains several collections owned by the Whitfield-Murray Historical Society, including memorabilia from Dalton poet Robert Loveman, Civil War artifacts and material from Dalton’s chenille industry. But it is closed to the public until repairs can be made.

“Until we are convinced it is 100 percent safe, we think that is the best thing to do,” said Marcelle White, executive secretary of the historical society, which owns the house.

The historical society recently received a $6,960 Georgia Heritage Program Grant from the state Department of Natural Resources. The society will match that with more than $4.600 of its own money to fund a structural assessment of the house.

“That will also provide us with a set of repair drawings,” said Kevin McAuliff, a historic preservation specialist with the North Georgia Regional Development Center and a member of the historical society’s Hamilton House committee.

McAuliff noticed a bulge in the west wall of the house while conducting a visual inspection in late April. As he continued to walk around the house, he also noticed that the south wall visibly bulged.

McAuliff quickly contacted a state preservation architect and a structural engineer who confirmed his observations. That’s when he applied for the grant.

“We just have to get this fixed. We can’t afford to lose the Hamilton House,” said White.

McAuliff says he will have to go through a state training session for grant recipients in mid-October, and he hopes to put the structural assessment up for bids by late October. He expects that work will take about three months.

The next step depends upon what the analysis finds.

McAuliff says it may be possible to inject substances into the walls to stabilize the mud mortar that appears to be washing away.

“If that’s the case, we could get off fairly cheaply,” he said.

But the building may require more substantial work, he adds.

The Hamilton House, which is also reportedly Dalton’s second-oldest existing house, was built by John Hamilton, a civil engineer who came to Dalton to assist with the construction of the Western and Atlantic Railroad.

During the Civil War, the house was used as a hospital by both the Confederate and Union armies. Confederate Gen. Joseph H. Lewis used the property as the headquarters for his Orphan Brigade during the winter of 1863.

The family sold the property to the stockholders of the nearby Crown Cotton Mill in 1884, and the house served as the home of the mill’s superintendent for the next century.

In 1984, the house was converted into the corporate offices of Crown America, and in 1997, the historical society purchased the home.