+ 1. Formal Parlor

This room served as Marion Cobb’s entertainment space and was the fanciest room within the house (as was customary in the period). The room is currently decorated with furniture from Thomas Reade Rootes (T.R.R) Cobb’s brother, Howell Cobb and his wife Mary Ann Lamar Cobb, including the Meeks Brothers table which sits in the center of the room and the “Issac and Rebekah at the Well” sculpture, as well as other furnishings from the Lumpkin or Lamar families. The carpet featured here is a recreation of a popular design from the 1850s. Originally, the carpet went wall to wall but this carpet stops short to showcase the room’s original hardwood floors. Also, you may notice the remaining original plaster work encased in plexiglass under the window, across from the entrance. This room was added on in 1852 when T.R.R and Marion added two octagonal wings to the home. It is believed that the shape of this room, and the others, was modeled after the octagonal office in the Old Governor's Mansion in Milledgeville, Georgia, as T.R.R. Cobb’s brother, Howell, was governor of Georgia at the time of the house’s expansion. The portrait over the fireplace is that of T.R.R and his family; it is an enlarged and colorized version of a photograph probably taken around 1856. T.R.R’s arm is placed around Lucy, his favorite daughter (an open secret in town); his daughters Callie and Sallie (also spelled Sally) are on the left and right, respectively. Marion is pictured in a black mourning dress, presumably due to the death of her father-in-law, John Addison Cobb. Three of the Cobb family’s children are not present in this photograph: Joseph Henry Lumpkin Cobb and Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb, Jr., both of whom died in infancy in the early 1850s, and Marion “Birdie” Cobb, who was born in 1860. The other two portraits in the room are that of Sally Cobb on her wedding day (where she married Henry “Harry” Rootes Jackson Jr.) and Aggy Carter Mills. Aggy Mills was enslaved by Howell and Mary Ann, and despite the state law preventing enslaved people from becoming literate, she learned how to read and write from Mary Willis Cobb, Howell and Tom’s younger sister. Aggy served as a nursemaid for Howell and Mary Ann’s children, with T.R.R and Marion occasionally borrowing her as well.

+ 2. Marion’s Sitting Room/ Music Room

Compared to the parlor, this room served as a much more informal entertainment space for the family and Marion’s guests and was one of the original rooms in the house. Children were allowed in this room, and common activities included embroidery, letter writing, reading, and playing music. The rosewood piano was originally Mary Ann’s, purchasing it for the governor’s mansion in Milledgeville while Howell was in office. The clock over the mantel contains a painting of what Franklin College, now Old North Campus at UGA, done by a company in Connecticut. The seashells in the corner of the room were there to subtly express the Cobbs’ wealth, showing their guests that they had enough money to travel for leisure. The large portrait in the room is another wedding portrait of Sally Cobb Jackson. The smaller portrait is of Marion “Birdie” Cobb as a teenager. Birdie got her nickname from T.R.R., who called her his “little bird.” The two young girls in the other portrait are Sally and Callie.

+ 3. Tom’s Sitting Room

Much like the sitting room across the hall, this was one of the original rooms from when the house was built in 1834. This room was also an informal entertainment space but for T.R.R. Cobb and his guests, where they could smoke, play games, and discuss things in a more casual manner; there probably was not any drinking in this room, as Tom’s strong evangelical nature led him to oppose drinking for leisure. The portraits around the room include T.R.R. Cobb’s namesake, his maternal grandfather Thomas Reade Rootes. Rootes lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, at a house called “Federal Hill,” where Cobb’s mother was born and spent most of her childhood. Symbolism in the portrait Over the mantle is a copy of Lucy’s mourning portrait. Lucy died of scarlet fever in October 1857 at the age of 13. It is full of symbolism surrounding death: the black bow on Lucy’s left shoulder, the black dog, and the closed shutters (minus one window) on the house. A black dog was said to guide the deceased to the afterlife, with the white mark on its chest known as the “kiss of God;” the single open window on the house allowed the spirit to escape and not get trapped. In her hand, Lucy is holding a copy of The Flower of the Family by Elizabeth Prentiss, of which there is a second edition copy on the mantle. The title of the book is painted on the back of the book to make sure it is read by the viewer. Said book was released in 1856, the book is about a girl named Lucy and tackles themes of death. Lucy also has a basket of books at her feet, indicating that she wished to become a teacher when she grew up. Before her death, Lucy composed a poem addressed to her parents titled “Death,” which is also on the mantle to read.

+ 4. Cobb’s Library

This octagonal room served both as T.R.R. Cobb’s office and library. The door opposite the desk leads directly to the front porch, allowing visitors to come right into Cobb’s office without passing through the private parts of the house. The boarded walls were for books—plaster walls were known to wick moisture which could ruin books. The boarded walls acted as protection of the books from the moisture. You may also notice the remaining original plasterwork under plexiglass behind his desk. T.R.R. Cobb was one of the most prominent lawyers in Athens in his time. In his short career, he stamped his name on numerous legal projects. Alongside his father-in-law Joseph Henry Lumpkin, Cobb co-founded the Lumpkin Law School which later became the University of Georgia School of Law, with the first classes supposedly held in this room. While T.R.R was a lawyer and not a politician, his brother Howell was. Howell served as district attorney for the area before his time as Governor of Georgia. While getting his start as district attorney, he worked in courthouses across the region and each had an acorn finial chair for his use. Howell did not fit into the chairs that were meant for him, so he had mule’s ear chairs made in Walton County for his use instead. You can see these chairs by the bookshelf. It was in this library that T.R.R wrote the 1860 Georgia Constitution, the first state constitution with a bill of rights attached, which was known as the “Declaration of Fundamental Principals”. It is also likely that he wrote Inquiry into the Law of Negro Slavery in 1858 in which he argued heavily in favor of slavery, claiming it to be a natural, positive thing. He used popular pseudoscience (or “false science”) rooted heavily in racism in an attempt to prove that Black people were not capable of self-governance, that they were at their most content in a life of subservience and hard labor. He promoted increased slave patrols and fugitive slave laws publicly, and he supported increased lynchings and vigilantism privately. He wrote the Confederate constitution in Montgomery, Alabama. T.R.R’s military portrait hangs over the mantle, made when was a Colonel for the Confederate Army. T.R.R was promoted to Brigadier General about one month before he was killed at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia in December of 1862. Jesse Harvey, his enslaved body servant, brought T.R.R’s body to Athens and the funeral likely took place in this room.

+ 5. Guest Room

This room was one of the original eight rooms of the house from 1834, although it was expanded further back under T.R.R. Cobb’s ownership of the house; the beam on the ceiling shows where the back wall used to be. This was likely the house’s guest bedroom, as all the family’s bedrooms were upstairs. The three cribs in this room were not originally here, but belonged to other parts of the Cobb family; the largest one was used by Howell and Mary Ann’s children and was likely made by an enslaved person. The middle crib was used by John Cobb Rutherford, T.R.R’s nephew. The smallest crib is a field cradle and was the type of crib utilized by enslaved people to bring their children into the fields while they worked. The ballgown in the corner of the room belonged to Mary Ann, Howell Cobb’s wife. While Howell was James Buchanan’s Secretary of Treasury, the Prince of Wales came to visit the White House in October 1860, the first time a British royal had visited the United States since the Revolution. As Buchanan was unmarried, his niece Harriet Lane carried out First Lady duties, and Mary Ann assisted her in the planning and execution of the party. The ball gown in the corner belonged to Mary Ann, and she wore it for this event. She was four months pregnant with her twelfth child at the time. Mary Ann recounted the entire party in a letter, in which she mentions an incident where she had champagne spilled on her; the stain still visible on the dress is likely from this incident. Why do you display the flag? The Second Richmond Depot flag over the mantle is an artifact necessary to tell the full story of T.R.R. Cobb’s life. During the Civil War, T.R.R. Cobb was killed by shrapnel from an exploding cannonball during the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862; he died within eyesight of Federal Hill, supposedly the spot from where the cannonball was fired. The displayed flag belonged to Cobb’s Legion and was flying at Fredericksburg when Cobb was killed. After Jesse Harvey, his enslaved body servant, brought his body back to Athens, this flag was draped over his body during the funeral held in this house’s library. This flag is currently on loan from the Atlanta History Center and is pressure mounted to protect it from damage; prior, it was glued to plywood. Its location over the mantle, the only spot in the house that does not receive direct sunlight, is to protect it from further light and UV damage.

+ 6. Hall and Stairs

The hall is part of the original 1834 ‘Plantation Plain’ house that was a wedding present for Tom and Marion from his father in law, Joseph Henry Lumpkin. The stairs are in their 1847 location, moved during the dining room addition. In the alcove under the stairs you will see a bed, as this is where Jesse Harvey, the enslaved carriage driver may have slept. We also have a display case with various Cobb and related family pieces under the stairs. In this case, you will also find Birdie Cobb’s wedding invitation to Hoke Smith. In the hallway, you will find a British tall case clock. Britannia, who is a British symbol of strength and identity, is featured on the case door with her shield and lance. The lower inlay is that of a compass. We believe that this piece came from the Lumpkin household, as Marion's mother Callender was from Scotland. The Cobb family bedrooms would have been upstairs. Today, you will find staff offices, our research library, classrooms for field trips, and temporary exhibits (when available), as well as a public bathroom. *The Lucy Cobb Institute * We also have a display case dedicated to the Lucy Cobb Institute, which was named for T.R.R and Marion's daughter, Lucy. The Lucy Cobb Institute diploma belonged to Sally Cobb Hull, the daughter of Callie and Augustus Longstreet Hull. We also have "Millie's Head" on display, a bas relief of Mildred Rutherford that was donated by a Rutherford descendant and only described as "Millie's Head." Mildred Rutherford was T.R.R's niece and the daughter of Laura Cobb Rutherford and Williams Rutherford. She was a teacher and principal at the Lucy Cobb Institute, as well as being the Historian for the United Daughters of the Confederacy and proponent of the Lost Cause Mythology.

+ 7. Dining Room

This room was added onto the house in 1847. The table is set for a typical dinner between T.R.R and Marion. Children were not typically allowed in the dining room as, like with the parlor, they were not seen as having proper manners. Instead, they ate either in their bedrooms or in the outdoor kitchen. The Cobbs also hosted dinner parties throughout the year. The room is currently set up in that fashion, with the chairs up against the walls. Enslaved people would provide food and drink to the guests. Most of the china in the room came from Howell, gifted to him by the state legislature while he was finishing his term as governor of Georgia. The sugar chest against the wall held sugar, spices, and other valuable food items, with Marion holding the only key. A cone of brown sugar is on display next to the condiment cruet (or caddy). Sugar came packaged in hard-packed cones and required a multi-step process to sweeten drinks. First, one took the sugar nippers, located next to the sugar cone, broke off a large chunk of sugar, and placed it into a bowl. Then, one took smaller sugar pinchers, pinched off a small piece of sugar from the chunk, and dropped it into their drink. The floorcloth is a 2018 and was hand-painted by a local artist and former Cobb House volunteer. These cloths were often made of canvas and painted and lacquered several times over to ensure they could withstand being stepped on. Floorcloths were also easier to clean than standard carpet, which also factored into their popularity in public spaces. In the corner of the room next to the fireplace, a section of the wall has been cut out to show the original woodwork. As opposed to joining several logs together, the beams of the room were hand-cut into one log at a 90 degree angle, as shown by the cutout example on the floor. Today, the logs are supported by steel beams.

+ 8. 2005 Addition

Originally, this area, which would have been behind the Cobb House, acted as a breezeway to the outbuildings. Behind the house, there was an office for T.R.R, a kitchen, vegetable and herb gardens, and eight cabins housing–at one point–over two dozen enslaved people. For more information about these enslaved people, please check out our binder by the front door, chat with our staff, or look through our enslaved database on our website. When the house was moved back to Athens from Stone Mountain in 2004, this addition to the house was constructed to facilitate the house’s operation as a museum. The addition includes an extra staircase and an elevator, both of which run from the new basement to the second floor of the house. The basement features restrooms used mainly during school trips, a kitchen for the staff, and collections storage. On the main floor, the addition has books available for purchase with cash or check, as well several free Athens town guides for tourists. Visitors will also see the large Cobb family tree.