Two Inns, A Farmhouse & A Summer Home:
Rabun County Houses Listed on the National Register of Historic Places By Dick Cinquina for Rabun County Histoical Society
R
abun County is host to four houses on the National Register of Historic Places. Two became inns, or boardinghouses as they once were called, as a direct result of the Tallulah Falls Railroad. One is a farmhouse, serving as a vivid reminder of how poor, subsistence farmers lived in the Georgia mountains in the late nineteenth century. Another is a vacation home harkening back to the time when Rabun County was becoming a summer retreat for wealthy city dwellers, again due to the railroad. Each property is unique, but all four share a common element: they tell important stories about the history of Rabun County.
The York House The York House, located off U.S. 23/441 in Mountain City, was listed on the National Register in 1992. Dating from the 1880s and steadily enlarged over the years, it is an example of a log cabin evolving into a Victorian inn. The York House also is important as an inn that benefited from the tourist boom generated by the Tallulah Falls Railroad.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed his 14 slaves, but most chose to stay with Gibson. He deeded a 40-acre tract to his 14-year-old granddaughter Mollie in 1873. In the 1880s, she married William Terrell York, a former Confederate soldier and Clayton’s sheriff at one time. For their home, the couple lived in a log cabin. It is not known if they built the cabin or if it already existed on the property. Over time, they operated a 400-acre farm on additional land purchased from Hiram Gibson. The log cabin was enlarged, the façade was covered with pine plank siding, and tenant cottages and various outbuildings were constructed. Surveyors for the Tallulah Falls Railroad, which eventually would be extended northward from Tallulah Falls, began staying at the York home in 1896. This marked the beginning of the home as an inn, the York House. The inn flourished once the railroad reached Mountain City in 1906. A stop, called the York Siding, was built near the York House, giving passengers convenient access to the inn. In 1907, an L-shaped addition to the house was built to accommodate more guests. Literature from the York House around this time described the inn as “the large, ideal country home with a farm run in connection with the house…” Amenities included “tennis courts, mountain spring water, large verandas…and a new system of hot and cold waterworks on each floor.”
The York House, photo 2013 The York House was once part of a 1,000-acre farm owned by Hiram Gibson, a South Carolina plantation owner. He purchased the land in 1851 and moved his family and slaves to the site, making him one of the few slave owners in Rabun County.
52 GML - February 2021
The Yorks, who had become known as “Little Mamma” and “Papa Bill,” operated the inn during the summers until 1916 when their daughter, Fannie York Weatherly, and her husband, George, took over. Following the Weatherlys, the York House remained open under the third generation of the York family and later by other owners. The York House currently is undergoing renovations by its new owner, the Old Edwards Hospitality Group.
