Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum, Historical mansion and educational museum in Mount Berry, United States.
Oak Hill is a Greek Revival mansion rebuilt in 1884 on a 170-acre estate in Mount Berry, Georgia. The house was renovated in 1927–1928 by Boston architects Coolidge & Carlson, who added electricity, indoor plumbing, steam heating, and a 1930s elevator. The estate includes the Martha Berry Museum, Berry Gardens, an original log cabin, and Martha Freeman's Cottage, a former schoolhouse.
Thomas Berry bought the estate from Andrew M. Sloan for $9,000 around 1871. The original 1847 Victorian farmhouse burned down in 1884, and Berry rebuilt it as a Greek Revival home named Oak Hill. In 1927 Martha Berry bought her siblings' shares and deeded the estate to The Berry Schools for five dollars.
The name Oak Hill refers to the oak trees surrounding the property that define its character. Visitors see how the rooms reflect the life of a wealthy late 19th-century family while also revealing the site's role in the region's educational history.
The site is relatively small, so visitors can explore it in about 1 to 2 hours. The walking paths and gardens are well marked, and visitors should be prepared for stairs when touring the mansion.
Martha Freeman's Cottage was once a schoolhouse belonging to Martha Freeman, a former slave married to the Berry family's carriage driver, Enoch Freeman. After his death in the 1890s she moved into the cottage and kept helping Martha Berry and the students as the Berry Schools took shape.
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