The Marsh House was built by Spencer Stewart Marsh about 1836 after he and his wife, Ruth Brantley Marsh, moved from Newton County to Walker County, Georgia, and settled in the community then called Chattooga or Chattoogaville, later known as Benton and finally LaFayette. Born in Chatham County, North Carolina, on November 25, 1799, Marsh was the son of William Marsh, an American Revolution soldier. The family's first home was a Williamsburg-style cottage on the site, and while the new house was under construction they lived in a log house near what is now the town square. When completed, the house had four rooms over four rooms, wide central halls on both floors, a large porch with square columns on the south side, a second-story balcony above it, and a basement kitchen on the east side connected to the first floor by a dumbwaiter; a later wing moved the kitchen to the main floor. In the mid-1830's, as the community grew, Marsh donated land just south of his residence for a new school to replace a one-room log cabin; the school was first called Chattooga Academy and later dedicated as John B. Gordon Hall, and the Marsh home became the school-time residence of John B. Gordon, who later served as a Confederate general and Georgia governor. In 1863, when the Civil War appeared likely to reach Northwest Georgia, the Marsh family moved south to Cassville, and during their absence Union troops occupied the house. After the war, the family returned to find their furniture and household goods gone, blood-soaked floors in the downstairs hall marked by horses' hoofprints, and bullets and bullet holes in the outer walls and glass around the upstairs outer door on the south side. The family restored the house but left some bullet holes as reminders that it had survived the war, and it remained in the family for more than 150 years until Walker County purchased it in spring 2003 and joined in its preservation with local historical and preservation groups.

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington

Photo: Dale K. Benington