| Summary: | National Register property – Forks of Cypress
Forks of Cypress plantation house is now a ruin. A fire resulting from lightning destroyed the home in 1966. However, the 23 remaining standing brick columns are still significant for what they can tell us about architecture and more importantly about the social history of the affluent planter lifestyle, in particular that of the owner, planter, and politician James Jackson.
The basic core of the house was a two story frame double pile plan much like others of its time period except for the central hall. The central hall at Forks of Cypress was divided into an entrance hall and a rear stair hall. The porch, however, is a different story and is now is all that remains to tell that story. The peristyle porch with 24 two story columns stretched completely around the house. This is the first documented house in Alabama to be so constructed before the war and one of the earliest nationwide outside the lower Mississippi valley. In the lower Mississippi valley peristyle porches were designed as living spaces with the columns supporting second story galleries that ringed the house and provided access to the rooms that opened on to the galleries. The peristyle porch at Forks of Cypress was designed to impress. Though the porch did provide sheltered gathering space and shade from the Alabama sun, the monumental nature of the brick columns with Ionic capitals that matched those on the new State Capitol building were a statement to the wealth and status of the inhabitants of the house. The architect of the house is reported to be William Nichols, State Architect of Alabama and designer of the new Capitol.
James Jackson, native of Ireland, was an early investor in the Cypress Creek Land Company that founded Florence. He along with others including John Coffee made up a local elite in the Lauderdale County area. Jackson was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives and the Senate during the 1820s and 30s. He was also a successful businessman and plantation owner raising thoroughbred race horses. He was rumored to be the richest man in the county upon his death.
The 1997 NR nomination for Forks of Cypress is extensive and provides a wealth of information about the house, James Jackson, and the history of Lauderdale County. The nomination also includes drawings from the 1935 WPA Historic American Building Survey inventory of the house (#AL-375).
Farris, Johnathan A. National Register Nomination, “Forks of Cypress” (#97001166) (10/10/97).
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