THE LECONTE HOUSE AT WOODMANSTON
The house above, located in nearby Riceboro, Georgia, was drawn during the 1820s. It may have been very similar to the Woodmanston Plantation home.
The first Woodmanston Plantation house, built by William and John Eatton LeConte, Sr. around 1772, was located near today's Barrington Ferry Road. The British burned this house during the American Revolution. A second house, called the hunting lodge, was built at the location marked today by brick pillars. It was used by the LeContes when they made periodic visits to the plantation, usually during the cooler months in the winter. The lodge was located much closer to the rice fields and slave quarters than the first home. Louis LeConte moved into he lodge in 1810, and it was here that he brought Ann in 1812.
Although neither the Louis LeConte house nor any drawings of it exist today, indications of its location and style have been drawn fro references made by family members in their writings and from archaeological work conducted in 1979.
Woodmanston Plantation researchers agree that the house was probably a raised-basement, low-country plantation house that was typical of those built by planters of the time. Most of the homes were raised not only to protect the house from flooding, but also to improve air circulation, which helped keep the interior cool. People also thought it would protect against harmful "vapors" from the swamps. It had wooden weatherboard siding, probably of cedar or cypress, and a cypress shingled roof. From family accounts, we know that the house had two full stories, and a usable attic. The attic became Louis' laboratory.