Woodlands, historic home in Gosport, Alabama, United States
Woodlands is a plantation house built in 1840 that stands as an example of Greek Revival design adapted to the Alabama landscape. The one-and-a-half-story wooden structure features eight fluted Doric columns supporting the front porch, with a centered door framed by sidelights, a transom window above, decorative pilasters, and a simple entablature.
Frederick Spaight Blount, a lawyer from North Carolina, built the house around 1840 after settling in Alabama and acquiring land in Clarke County. The house gained recognition when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, acknowledging its architectural significance in Alabama's nineteenth-century history.
The house reflects a blend of architectural traditions brought together by its original owner, who came from North Carolina and chose to establish his life in Alabama's plantation culture. The design choice to use eight columns and a central porch shows how settlers adapted classical styles to suit the southern landscape and their way of life.
The house sits at the end of a private driveway that is not visible from the road and lies about four miles west of the bridge over the Alabama River near US Highway 84. Planning ahead is necessary to locate the site, as it sits on private property and is not set up as a standard public attraction.
An unusual architectural feature is the small oval-vaulted ceiling in the porch area with a bullseye window above the entrance, a design not found in other Alabama homes of the period. This distinctive detail sets the house apart from other Greek Revival structures and showcases regional craftsmanship.
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