Plum Orchard (Cumberland Island)
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Images
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
Plum Orchard was designed by Peabody and Stearns for George Lauder Carnegie, a son of Thomas M. Carnegie and named after his uncle, Scottish industrialist George Lauder, it was formally dedicated on Oct. 6, 1898. Peabody and Stearns also designed various additions to the mansion in the several following years, probably in 1906. The Classical Revival-style mansion includes a rare squash tennis court.
It is a very large three-part, 255-foot-by-95-foot, two-and-a-half-story mansion with a colossal Ionic portico, piazza, and round-arched windows. It was constructed of wood with a stucco finish. Although it has been altered, it retains its classical symmetry. The house served as the couple's primary winter residence until George Lauder died in 1921.
After he died, his widow, Margaret Copley Thaw, remarried and moved to Africa. Most of the original furnishings were sold, and furniture from Dungeness was brought in to furnish the house. The house was then occupied by the Johnston family, from Nancy Trovillo Carnegie Heaver/Johnston's branch of the family. The estate is now part of Cumberland Island National Seashore.
Sources
On Island - Cumberland Island National Seashore, U.S. National Park Service. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://www.nps.gov/cuis/planyourvisit/on-island.htm.
Plum Orchard Mansion, List of Classified Structures. Accessed July 28th 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20110521221843/http://www.hscl.cr.nps.gov/insidenps/report.asp?STATE=GA&PARK=CUIS&STRUCTURE=&SORT=&RECORDNO=1.