A Beginning

Every story has many beginnings. Perhaps this one began when Philip Housworth and his wife, Hannah, loaded their children and belongings into a wagon and delved into the untamed wilderness of Georgia. Following the Land Lottery of 1821, many such pioneers began to push back the thick woodlands formerly hunted by Cherokee and Creek Indians and plant the rolling fields with cotton, corn, sorgham, and tobacco.

Philip and Hannah moved from South Carolina to then Henry County, now Dekalb County, west of the growing towns of Madison and Covington, Georgia. Decatur, just 15 miles further west, would be founded in 1822; Atlanta [or Terminus, at the time], not until 1837. The Land Lottery, Georgia's third, awarded parcels of approximately 200 acres. The Housworth's share lay in the shadow of what now is known as Davidson-Arabia Mountain, a vast granite outcrop. Then, as now, wild game would have been abundant and the small creeks and streams could be dammed for irrigation and livestock.

There were six children on the Housworth farm: Michael, Jemina, Abraham, John James, Susannah, and Mahalia. Over the next few decades, the farm would thrive, thanks in great part to the slaves owned by the family. The three boys would establish their own homes either on parts of Philip and Hannah's land or on neighboring acreage. Two would later lead their own pioneer quests.

In 1843, it is believed that Abraham, the Housworth's third child, built the small house that still stands, just a half a mile down the winding road from the original homeplace. There, on the gentle slope between the road and a small creek, this home, our home, would know generations of Housworths.

Perhaps the day he surveyed the property, before Abraham or his brothers would cut the first tree or raise the first hammer, before they found the first stone for a chimney or foundation, perhaps that first moment when the site was finally chosen... perhaps that is the beginning of the story.