Preserving the History at the Magee Farm with Living History part of Alabama History
In 1848 Jacob Magee built a farmhouse and related buildings constructed with black slave labor for his family. The construction of the house and buildings was so good that from that date to the present day the house needed minimal help or repair from that day to the present. The 2 story building was the home of 4 different families over the decades before being designated a living history and museum site for the city of Kushla. The Magee Farm is one of those attractions that you will want to include on your Alabama travel schedule.
Along side the main house there was a commissary; post office, bath house and school house on the complex. Although the only buildings still remaining are the house and the schoolroom - the history of those times lives on with the exhibits that are presented for you to see. It was the largest private homestead for several miles when it was finished.
The primary house was designed with some interesting plans. There is a front veranda that has 2 bedroom entrances leading onto it. One of these bedrooms has a doorway on the veranda but no entryway into the main portion of the house. It was designed to provide travelers and guests that were not members of the family a safe room to reside without them being able to access the family’s private areas. The other bedroom has an entry on the veranda but also an entry that opens into the formal dining room. Obviously this room was used by family members that came to visit or acquaintances that the family wanted to allow access to the rest of the house.
There is another parlor room that could be closed off with either a curtain or by closing the sliding pocket doors. The foyer of the house opened into both the front and the back veranda. The school room was attached to the rear veranada. This room is now the museum for the facility. On the second floor are two large bedrooms, each including their own fireplace. For heat, the house has a total of 5 fireplaces. Imagine chopping enough wood to maintain 5 fireplaces running all winter!!
The cookhouse was out back but attached to the rest of the house by the rear veranda. It was typical to have the cookhouse removed from the house proper to keep the heat out of the main house. Behind the cookhouse was the outhouse so when the outhouse needed to be used it could require quite a run in the dark or cold to get to the outhouse when nature called.
Today, it is on the most popular attractions in Alabama. The farm is also the site of the Living History and Battle Reenactment - both in the spring and the fall.
