An older Roswell home in need of a little rehab and set on one acre of land is for sale with an unusually low price tag.
This home is a historic farmhouse built circa 1835. The foundation is the original hand-hewn timber set on a platform of blocks.
“They are still in 100% shape, there’s been no rot,” said Kevin Bamford, president of the Roswell Historical Society, said of the timber foundation. “The structure in itself is immaculate. There’s no buckling. There’s no rot. There’s no foundation issue.”
The historical society owns the home. It’s priced at $125,000 with conditions that will require the future owner to preserve the structure and limit remodeling.
Offers are being accepted until 3 p.m. Friday.
The property is located at 775 Hembree Road. Nearby homes have sold for at least $400,000, this year, according to Zillow.
The 1,400-square-foot house was the original homestead of the Hembree family. Amariah Hembree, the family patriarch, came to Roswell in 1835 with his extended family and settled on what is now Hembree Road. They raised livestock and farmed the land growing cotton for the old Roswell Manufacturing Company, according to the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
The property was originally part of the Cherokee Nation. Georgia took portions of Indian territory in land lotteries between 1805 and 1833.
The Hembree family came to own 600 acres of land, said Elaine DeNiro, archivist at the historical society.
“This is the last of the original acreage and its one of the oldest farmhouses in north Fulton,” she said.
Credit: Courtesy of the Georgia Trust of Historic Preservation
Credit: Courtesy of the Georgia Trust of Historic Preservation
Amariah Hembree’s son, James, built the house, historians said, adding that his brother Elihu and his descendants lived on the land for eight generations. Elihu is buried on the property and any eventual owner must preserve the gravesite.
The home has four fireplaces. Three in the main house and one in the kitchen house — a small structure outside used for cooking.
“It is typical of the southern house of that 1830s era,” DeNiro said. “It could be used as an office now.”
The main house has a kitchenette that was created in more modern times.
The family sold the property to the Roswell Historical Society in 2006, Kevin Bamford, the president of the organization said.
The last occupants rented the home and moved out in 2005.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is managing the sale. Inquiries can be made to Ben Sutton bsutton@georgiatrust.org, 404-885-7817. The home went on the real estate market July 22.
Bamford said half of the interested buyers that have toured the home with him were interested in the property for investment purposes. They then learned of the conditions which limit expanding the space of the home and require preserving the roof and front facade. And the home cannot be moved to another location.
Other interested buyers are people who are history buffs, Bamford added.
“One lady came from Florida and this is her passion to renovate old farmhouses ...,” he said.
Bamford said his hope is that the purchaser will maintain the historic nature of the property, “not altered, not changed, or destroyed,” he said.
Credit: Courtesy Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
Credit: Courtesy Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
