Cedar Grove Plantation

Cedar Grove Plantation, also called the Charles Walker House, is a historic plantation house near Faunsdale in Alabama’s Canebrake region. The property is a residential and agricultural complex rather than a commercial consumer brand. Its surviving main building is a two-story frame house in a vernacular Greek Revival style, distinguished by a gabled roof and a double veranda. The site also includes a two-story schoolhouse behind the main residence. The property’s documented beginnings date to 1830, when Scottish brothers Dougal and Malcolm McAlpin built a two-story log house on the site. In 1848, Charles and Margaret Walker acquired the property and commissioned Theophilus Fowler, a builder from Virginia, to construct the principal house. Work continued for approximately a decade, with the main residence remaining under construction until 1858. The earlier log structure is believed to have been incorporated into the completed house, forming part of the dining room and one bedroom. Cedar Grove functioned as the center of a substantial antebellum plantation. The historical record identifies Charles Walker as the owner of 154 enslaved people in 1860, placing the property within the economic and social system of slavery that shaped Alabama’s plantation districts. This history is integral to understanding the site, although the available reference material does not identify a modern commercial operation, product range, or tourism brand associated with the property. The house is also associated with Nicola Marschall, a friend of the Walker family who lived with them for a short period. The schoolhouse behind the main residence is believed to have served as Marschall’s studio during that stay. Outside that artistic association, the building had a local educational role: it reportedly operated as a school for area children until 1925. The Walker family retained the house until 1982. In 1993, Cedar Grove Plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The listing formed part of the broader Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission. Its significance therefore rests on architectural preservation, regional history, surviving associated buildings, and documented links to the Walker family and Marschall. No reliable source supplied here establishes a current owner, public operating model, admission business, website, or commercial product offering.

Cedar Grove Plantation began in 1830 with a two-story log house built by Dougal and Malcolm McAlpin, brothers who came from Scotland. The early structure is believed to have survived as part of the later main residence rather than disappearing entirely. In 1848, Charles and Margaret Walker purchased the property and engaged Theophilus Fowler, a Virginia builder, to create a larger principal house. Construction continued until 1858. The completed residence became the focal point of a large antebellum plantation. Records identify Charles Walker as owning 154 enslaved people in 1860, documenting the property’s place within the slaveholding plantation economy of nineteenth-century Alabama. The house’s history must therefore be understood both through its architectural survival and through the forced labor system that supported the plantation. The main building is a two-story frame structure with a gabled roof and double veranda. Its design is described as vernacular Greek Revival. The porch was substantially changed in 1915. The original arrangement consisted of a single-story porch with simple turned wooden columns and arched latticework; the later configuration introduced the paneled box columns and multi-level appearance visible in the documented description of the property. Cedar Grove also has an association with Nicola Marschall, who was a friend of the Walker family and stayed with them for a short period. A two-story schoolhouse behind the main house is thought to have been used by Marschall as a studio. The same building later served the local community as a school for children in the area until 1925, giving the property significance beyond its role as a plantation residence. The property remained in the Walker family until 1982. It was subsequently recognized as an important historic resource, entering the National Register of Historic Places on July 13, 1993. The designation was made through the Plantation Houses of the Alabama Canebrake and Their Associated Outbuildings Multiple Property Submission. The available material does not establish whether the site is currently open to the public, commercially operated, or held by a named preservation organization.

• 1993

  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Cedar Grove Plantation was added to the National Register on July 13 as part of a multiple-property submission covering plantation houses and associated outbuildings in the Alabama Canebrake.

• 1982

  Walker family ownership ended

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The house remained in the Walker family until 1982, ending the family’s documented period of ownership.

• 1925

  School use ended

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The associated two-story schoolhouse reportedly continued serving local children as a school until this year.

• 1915

  Front porch altered

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  The original one-story porch was modified into the multi-level configuration with paneled box columns described in the property’s architectural record.

• 1860

  Documented antebellum slaveholding scale

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Historical records identify Charles Walker as owning 154 enslaved people, documenting the plantation’s scale within Alabama’s slaveholding economy.

• 1858

  Main house completed

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Construction of the two-story Greek Revival-influenced frame residence was completed after approximately a decade of work.

• 1848

  Walker family acquired the property

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Charles and Margaret Walker purchased the property and began developing the principal plantation house with builder Theophilus Fowler.

• 1830

  Initial log house constructed

  [1]Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org

  Dougal and Malcolm McAlpin built a two-story log house that formed the earliest documented phase of Cedar Grove Plantation.

A preserved historic house and plantation complex valued for its Greek Revival architecture, regional Alabama history, associated outbuildings, and connection to Nicola Marschall.

1. 1Cedar Grove Plantationen.wikipedia.org