The House Alexander Lawton Built - "Lawton Place Manor" in Mount Airy, GA (Caregiver Retreat)

Alexander Robert Lawton built this North Georgia house as a summer retreat. Nearly 150 years later, people still come here for that reason.

Lawton Place Manor stands in Mount Airy, Georgia. According to A Mother’s Rest, Lawton built it in 1879 as a summer home called “The Oakes”. Its fireplaces, porches, gardens and guest cottage speak to the care that has gone into the property over generations.

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Lawton himself lived a complex and consequential life. A graduate of the United States Military Academy and Harvard Law School, he became a Georgia lawyer and politician. During the Civil War, he served as a brigadier general and quartermaster general for the Confederacy. In the years that followed, he became president of the American Bar Association and served as U.S. minister to Austria-Hungary. His history deserves to be told plainly, including the chapter that cannot be separated from the Confederacy.

The house outlived its builder and gathered new stories. In 1957, baseball legend Ty Cobb briefly stayed there while building his home on his nearby estate, giving rise to the local nickname “The Ty Cobb House.” Cobb, known as “the Georgia Peach,” Cobb won 12 American League batting titles and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in its first class. He is one of the greats in the history of baseball.

I had the opportunity to help sell Lawton Place Manor to A Mother’s Rest. Since winter 2020, the organization has operated it as a respite inn for parents and caregivers of loved ones with disabilities or chronic illnesses. The property Lawton created for summer rest now offers rest to people who devote so much of their time and energy to others. If you know of someone who needs this sort of rest and break, please check them out. https://www.amothersrest.org/georgiarespiteinn

Watch my video tour of Lawton Place Manor.

Previous residents are historically listed on the steps to the 2nd floor.

That continuity is what moves me. A house can bear witness to difficult history, welcome a famous guest, change hands, and find a purpose its builder could never have imagined.

I often say that behind every real estate transaction is a transition. Helping this home begin its chapter as a respite inn reminded me that the next chapter can be the most meaningful one yet.

Respite care is a temporary care service designed to provide relief to primary caregivers, allowing them to take a break while ensuring that their care recipient continues to receive necessary support.