Braselton, Georgia – Jackson County. W.H. Braselton House has undergone a transformation in the last 25 years. The house had gotten into bad shape over the years, and we get to see the before and after of this old mansion.
William Henry Braselton (1868-1956) was one of the 3 Braselton Brothers the town is named after. Their businesses are tied to the history of Braselton, so I want to include some of that information. The Braselton Brothers store, built in 1904, grew very quickly. The brothers were very prosperous, and their homes reflected this. W.H. and his wife Pallie had 9 children, so they needed a large home! The W.H. Braselton House was built with 12 fireplaces – that gives you an idea of how big it is!
Here’s an old photo of the store…
The brothers ran quite a few businesses out of here. Not only did they run department store, grocery, hardware, furniture & appliance stores… here are some of the other businesses they ran:
- Barber Shop
- Undertaking Department
- Sawmill
- Blacksmith
- Cotton Gin
- Flour Mill
- Bank (it became part of Northeast Georgia Bank in 1995)
- Railroad Ticket Office
- Gas Station
W.H. Braselton also supervised an 1,800 acre farm. As you can see the Braselton Brothers had a lot of business interests!
Looking at this fine home, we can see it’s in amazing shape. While today Braselton is growing by leaps and bounds, that wasn’t the case all that long ago. You didn’t really hear much about Braselton in the 1980s, except it gained national attention when Kim Basinger led a group of investors to buy the town! They sold it a few years later. W.H. Braselton House was looking rough about this time.
I enjoy sharing historic preservation success stories – and this certainly is one! There was a need for a new town hall, and the decision was made to restore and preserve William Henry Braselton’s house.
After all the work was completed, many remarked that it’s the prettiest town hall in Georgia!
The W.H. Braselton House looks great any time of year, but I always particularly like seeing it at Christmas.
That’s a brief history of the W.H. Braselton House (and the Braselton Brothers). If you’d like to learn more of Braselton’s history and see old photos, please visit Downtown Braselton site. Thanks so much for reading the blog!
Resources:
Figure 1, Jackson County Historical Society – Volume 21, Number 3
Figures 2-6, Downtown Braselton Facebook Page
Jackson County Historical Society News – Volume 11, Number 1