Waldwic

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Waldwic
Front elevation in 2008
Location Gallion, Alabama
Coordinates 32°29′4.99″N 87°42′49.64″W / 32.4847194°N 87.7137889°W / 32.4847194; -87.7137889Coordinates: 32°29′4.99″N 87°42′49.64″W / 32.4847194°N 87.7137889°W / 32.4847194; -87.7137889
Built 1840, renovated 1852.[1]
Governing body Private
MPS Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission[2]
NRHP Reference # 94000684[3]
Added to NRHP July 22, 1994

Waldwic, also known as the William M. Spencer, III, House, is a historic Carpenter Gothic plantation house and historic district located on the west side of Alabama Highway 69, south of Gallion, Alabama. Waldwic is included in the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission.[2] The main house and plantation outbuildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 22, 1994.[3]

History

The main house was built in 1840 for Robert Gracey and then was expanded and renovated in the Gothic Revival style in 1852.[1] His widow, M. S. Gracey, remarried after Robert's death to Willis Bocock in 1856. The 1860 United States Census of Marengo County indicates that Bocock owned 127 slaves in that year.[4] The Waldwic property was originally within Marengo County, but this portion of Marengo was added to Hale County upon its creation in 1867.[5] Robert Gracey's granddaughter, Bertha Gracey Steele, married at Waldwic in 1889 to William Micajah Spencer. He was a lawyer and was elected to the Alabama Senate in 1901.[6] The house is one of only about twenty Gothic Revival residential structures remaining in Alabama.[1] Other historic Gothic Revival residences in the area include Ashe Cottage in Demopolis and Fairhope Plantation in Uniontown.[3]

Gallery
Front and side elevation in 2008 
HABS photo of the main house at Waldwic, taken in 1935 
Servant's quarters in 2008 
The same servant's quarters in 1935 
Parlor windows in 1935 
Parlor fireplace in 1935 

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gamble, Robert Historic architecture in Alabama: a guide to styles and types, 1810-1930, pages 89-90 . Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8173-1134-3.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings MPS NRIS Database, National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved 6 March 2008.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. 
  4. "1860 United States Census - Slave schedule, Marengo County, Alabama". United States Census Bureau. Rootsweb. Retrieved 2008-12-30. 
  5. Marengo County Heritage Book Committee (2000). The heritage of Marengo County, Alabama. Clanton, Alabama: Heritage Publishing Consultants. p. 24. ISBN 1-891647-58-X. 
  6. Owen, Thomas McAdory (1921). History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke publishing company. p. 1607. 

External links

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