Carter-Newton House

33°35′30″N 83°28′30″W / 33.59165°N 83.47501°W / 33.59165; -83.47501

Carter-Newton House (c. 1840) at 530 Academy Street, Madison, Georgia, is one of the grand homes of Madison built during its heyday, 1840–60, leading up to the Civil War. A classic four-over-four Greek Revival home, one of six of this type in Madison, it features a wide front porch supported by four large scamozi fluted columns, eight 20 foot × 20 foot rooms plus three additional rooms in back, 12½ foot ceilings downstairs, and nine fireplaces upstairs and down. The central structure seems largely unchanged from when it was constructed but in fact has undergone a number of alterations. Of special significance are the entrance hall, double parlors and the main and servants’ staircases. Pocket doors to the main parlors, added in 1902, still operate. The house sits on 1.04 acres (4,200 m²), with six adjoining undeveloped acres to the rear.

The house was built at the peak of the cotton boom in Morgan County, on the foundation of the Madison Male Academy which operated in Madison during the first half of the 19th century. The two-story brick structure was established by charter of the Georgia Legislature on December 16, 1815, and supported in part by the state in the form of fines and forfeitures levied in criminal prosecutions.