The Rock House

The Rock House is a Georgia historical marker in McDuffie County, dedicated 1990.

Located on Rock House Road 4 miles west of Georgia Route 223 in Thomson.

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This 18th Century stone dwelling is the only surviving house associated with the Colonial Wrightsboro Settlement (1768). Its builder, Thomas Ansley, used weathered granite, quarried in its natural form from the nearby geographical fall line, as building material. The granite, along with pine timbers and cypress shingles, gave the house a distinctive Ga. Character. The architectural style of the Rock House is similar to stone houses in the Delaware Valley of New Jersey from which Ansley migrated. It is the earliest dwelling in Georgia with its original architectural form intact. Ownership of the Rock House passed to Nicolas C. Bacon in the 1840s and in the 1880s to the Johnson family, who maintained it as a working plantation until the 20th Century. The Johnson heirs, Effie Johnson Usry and Mary Ruth Johnson McNeil gave the house to the Wrightsboro Quaker Community Foundation, Inc. in 1966, who restored the house in 1981.

Maps this old were drawn largely by eye, so places on them can sit miles from where they really are. The pin is ours and marks the marker's location today.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1776 · A general map of the southern British colonies in America comprehending North and South… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1795 · State of South Carolina. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1816 · Georgia (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1827 · Georgia. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

State of South Carolina, 1795, covering the location of The Rock House, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — State of South Carolina, 1795, covering this location. David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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This historical marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program and was erected by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

On the National Register nearby

Old Rock House80 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.