Fairhope Plantation

Fairhope Plantation is a historic plantation house and rural historic district located approximately one mile east of Uniontown in Perry County, Alabama. It is principally significant as an unusually well-preserved example of mid-nineteenth-century Gothic Revival domestic architecture in the state, as well as for its connection with the Selden family and the antebellum plantation system in central Alabama. The principal residence is a two-and-a-half-story, wood-framed house designed in the Carpenter Gothic tradition. Construction began in 1857 and was completed by 1861, placing the building at the transition between the antebellum period and the American Civil War. The property was established for Joseph Selden, a Virginia native, and his wife, Elizabeth Collier Minge Selden. Elizabeth's family provided the land on which the plantation was developed. Selden was connected to Westover Plantation in Charles City County, Virginia, where he had grown up, while Elizabeth's family had roots in the same Virginia region and maintained plantation connections in Alabama. The 1860 census recorded Joseph Selden as enslaving 80 people in Perry County, making the property's history inseparable from the forced labor system that supported many plantations in the antebellum South. During the Civil War, Selden organized and financed Selden's Battery, a Confederate artillery unit that participated in engagements including Kennesaw Mountain, Franklin, and Nashville. Architecturally, Fairhope's main house is distinguished by a broad range of Gothic Revival details. These include elaborate wooden bargeboards along the eaves and gables, hood moldings over doors and windows, octagonal brick chimneys, and central gables with finials on all four sides. A one-story cast-iron veranda wraps around three sides of the ground floor. Architectural historians have suggested that the house may be an enlarged adaptation of a design associated with Alexander Jackson Davis and published in Andrew Jackson Downing's 1842 work Cottage Residences. Fairhope is regarded as one of only roughly twenty surviving Gothic Revival residential structures in Alabama, giving it importance beyond its local setting. Elizabeth Selden died after childbirth in 1868, and Joseph Selden died in a hotel fire in 1900. The property remained with Selden descendants and continued to function as a farm for approximately another century. The historic district encompasses the main house and six additional contributing buildings, preserving a broader agricultural and domestic setting rather than an isolated residence. Fairhope Plantation was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 19, 1991, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1992. Its significance therefore rests on architecture, local and regional history, and its ability to document the social and economic landscape of nineteenth-century Alabama. It is a historic place rather than a commercial consumer brand, and no current commercial product portfolio, corporate parent, public listing, or active brand-management program is identified in the supplied material.

Fairhope Plantation was developed in Perry County, Alabama, for Joseph Selden and Elizabeth Collier Minge Selden. Joseph Selden was born in Virginia and grew up at Westover Plantation in Charles City County. Elizabeth was also from a Virginia plantation family, with connections to Weynoke Plantation near Faunsdale, Alabama. The couple married in 1854, and Elizabeth's family provided the property on which Fairhope was established. Construction of the principal residence began in 1857. The building was completed by 1861 by Theophilus Gilliam Fowler, a local builder. Its design belongs to the Gothic Revival tradition, but its scale and detailing distinguish it from an ordinary rural cottage. The two-and-a-half-story wood-framed house includes decorative bargeboards, hood moldings, octagonal brick chimneys, prominent gables, finials, and a cast-iron veranda extending around three sides of the ground floor. Architectural historians have identified a possible relationship between the house and a design attributed to Alexander Jackson Davis and published in Andrew Jackson Downing's Cottage Residences in 1842. The exact design process is not established in the supplied material, so the relationship is best treated as an architectural attribution rather than a confirmed direct copy. The plantation's history also reflects the antebellum system of enslavement. The 1860 United States census for Perry County recorded Joseph Selden as the owner of 80 enslaved people. During the Civil War, Selden organized Selden's Battery at his own expense. The Confederate artillery unit fought in several significant actions, including the battles of Kennesaw Mountain, Franklin, and Nashville. These events connect Fairhope not only with plantation agriculture but also with the military and political order of the Confederacy. Elizabeth Selden died following childbirth in 1868. Joseph Selden later died in a hotel fire in 1900. Despite the deaths of its original occupants, Fairhope remained in Selden family hands and continued to operate as a farm for roughly the next century. The property developed as a historic agricultural complex rather than solely as a residential structure. Its district includes the main house and six other contributing buildings, allowing the site to retain elements of its historic setting and associated farm functions. Recognition of Fairhope's heritage value came in the late twentieth century. The property was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 19, 1991. It was subsequently listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 29, 1992, because of its architectural and historical importance. The listing recognizes Fairhope as one of Alabama's relatively rare surviving Gothic Revival residences and as a place that documents the state's nineteenth-century plantation society, Civil War-era history, and continuing agricultural landscape. The supplied sources do not establish a current owner, public visitation policy, restoration chronology, or present operational status.

• 1992

  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The plantation historic district was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 29 for its architectural and historical significance.

• 1991

  Added to the Alabama Register

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Fairhope Plantation was placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 19.

• 1900

  Death of Joseph Selden

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Joseph Selden died in a hotel fire. The property subsequently remained with Selden descendants.

• 1868

  Death of Elizabeth Selden

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Elizabeth Selden died following childbirth.

• 1861

  Main house completed

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The principal Fairhope Plantation residence was completed after several years of construction.

• 1857

  Construction of the main house begins

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Local builder Theophilus Gilliam Fowler began constructing the large wood-framed Gothic Revival residence.

• 1854

  Joseph Selden marries Elizabeth Collier Minge

  [1]Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Joseph Selden and Elizabeth Collier Minge married, preceding the establishment of Fairhope on land associated with Elizabeth's family.

Historic plantation house, agricultural property, and preserved architectural landmark.

1. 1Fairhope Plantationen.wikipedia.org