Hickory Hill

Populist presidential candidate and Georgia political leader Thomas E. Watson purchased this house from Captain James Wilson 1900. Watson extensively renovated both the house and grounds, installing telephones and even constructing a power plant to provide the house with lighting and water for the indoor plumbing. In 1910 Watson constructed a printing plant, known as the Jeffersonian, at Hickory Hill. The plant employed thirty workers and produced his periodicals and books. After the death of Watson and his wife, their granddaughter Georgia Watson Craven owned Hickory Hill until 1947 when Walter J. Brown purchased the house to preserve it in memory of Thomas Watson. Today the house is owned and operated by the Watson-Brown Foundation.