Alston-Cobb House

Alston-Cobb House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage
The Alston-Cobb House in 2008
Location:	Grove Hill, Alabama
Coordinates:	31°42′36″N 87°46′38″W / 31.71°N 87.77722°W / 31.71; -87.77722Coordinates: 31°42′36″N 87°46′38″W / 31.71°N 87.77722°W / 31.71; -87.77722
Built:	1854
Architectural style:	Greek Revival
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	79000382[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP:	April 30, 1979
Designated ARLH:	September 1, 1978

The Alston-Cobb House, now formally known as the Clarke County Museum, is a historic house museum in Grove Hill, Alabama. It was built in 1854 by Dr. Lemuel Lovett Alston as a Greek Revival I-house, a vernacular style also known in the South as Plantation Plain.^[1] It is one of only four examples of an I-house to survive intact in Clarke County.^[2]

History

Lemuel Alston migrated to Grove Hill and began the practice of medicine around 1852. The house was completed in 1854, shortly before his marriage to Sarah French Jackson on November 1, 1854. The house was subsequently owned by the Bettis, Cobb, Bumpers, and Postma families until it was purchased by the Clarke County Historical Society in 1980. The historical society restored the house and opened it as the Clarke County Museum in 1986. The museum features exhibits that cover a broad range of topics from Zeuglodon fossils to the American Civil War and an antebellum kitchen.^[3] The Alston-Cobb House was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on September 1, 1978 and to the National Register of Historic Places on April 30, 1979.^[1][4]

The grounds

Several historic structures have been moved to the museum grounds and restored. The Creagh Law Office, built in 1834 by Judge John Gates Creagh, was moved to the site in 1990 and restored. The Turner Corn Crib is a corn crib which is thought to have been partially built from timbers salvaged from Fort Turner, a log fortification that served the area during the Creek War in 1813. It was moved to the grounds in 2001 and restored. The Mathews Cabin was acquired in 2005 and restoration was completed in 2008. It is a log cabin with two large rooms separated by a breezeway, a form often known as a dogtrot house, and dates to the mid-19th century.^[3]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ "Clarke County MPS". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/64500005.pdf. Retrieved 2008-10-03. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Alston-Cobb Home". Clarke County Historical Museum. http://www.clarkemuseum.com/index.html. Retrieved 2008-10-03. 
4. ^ "Properties on the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage". Alabama Historical Commission. www.preserveala.org. 4 June 2009. http://www.preserveala.org/pdfs/arprop%20(updated%2006-04-09).pdf. Retrieved 21 July 2009. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Clarke County Historical Museum