Oakland Plantation

Front: This plantation was established in 1735 with a royal grant to William Sanders, who built a house and tavern, or “publick house,” here. That house was either extensively remodeled into or replaced by the present house featuring a central hall, built ca. 1816 by William Sanders IV and further enlarged by his son William Sanders V shortly before the Civil War. Reverse: On April 18, 1865, in the last days of the Civil War, this house was the headquarters of Confederate Maj. Gen. P.M.B. Young and was struck by an artillery shell in a brief skirmish. The next day it was the headquarters of Federal Brig. Gen. Edward E. Potter and a field hospital. Renamed “Dixie Hall” in the 1950s, it remained in the hands of the Sanders family until 1981.