Information
Landmark: Oak Hill & Martha Berry MuseumCity: Rome City
Country: USA Georgia
Continent: North America
Oak Hill & Martha Berry Museum, Rome City, USA Georgia, North America
Overview
On Berry College’s campus in Rome, Georgia, Oak Hill & The Martha Berry Museum preserves the white-columned home and the enduring legacy of Martha Berry, one of the South’s most influential educators.This site pulls you into Southern history, early 20th‑century schooling, grand estate architecture, and the story of American philanthropy, all surrounded by sweeping gardens where trimmed boxwood borders catch the sunlight.First.Oak Hill began in the 1840s with a simple farmhouse, its white clapboard walls weathered by sun and rain.In 1871, Captain Thomas Berry bought the house, then added wide new wings and rooms until it felt twice its size.A fire tore through the building in 1884, and it rose again in Greek Revival style, with tall white columns, a broad front porch, and perfectly balanced lines.Martha Berry spent most of her adult years in that house, later transforming it into a warm hub for hosting guests, teaching, and mapping out the schools she built.In 1927, Martha Berry oversaw a sweeping renovation of Oak Hill, adding elegant Colonial Revival touches-a white-columned porch among them-that showcased her refined taste and her standing as a gracious Southern hostess.They installed modern touches-indoor plumbing, electricity, central heating-while selecting French wallpaper, polished furnishings, and artwork that brought both comfort and a quietly sophisticated charm.Number two.Martha Berry (1865–1942) left a lasting mark as the visionary who built the Berry Schools, which later grew into Berry College-a private school rooted in self-reliance, character, and service, where students once learned by tending the campus gardens.She started teaching in a snug log cabin on the Oak Hill estate, guiding local farm children through reading lessons and verses from Scripture.Her model expanded to cover both boys’ and girls’ boarding schools, and, in time, even a college with worn oak desks lining the hall.She earned wide acclaim, with praise from Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt-one letter even arrived on thick, cream-colored stationery.Roosevelt stood at the podium, his voice steady as the late-afternoon light caught the edge of his glasses.Oak Hill was more than her home; it buzzed with plans and maps spread across the table, the nerve center for building Berry’s educational empire.Three.At Oak Hill Mansion, visitors wander through more than a dozen fully furnished rooms, each carefully restored to capture the look and feel of the 1930s and ’40s-Martha Berry’s most influential years, when velvet drapes still framed the tall windows.The formal parlor holds period furniture, warm light spilling from elegant fixtures, and artwork the Berry family gathered over the years.The dining room is ready for formal meals, with polished silver service and fine china that gleams under the soft light.The library holds her personal books, letters, and papers-pages inked with Martha Berry’s private reflections and her far-reaching exchanges with national figures.Bedrooms display Martha’s own furniture, worn textiles, and small personal treasures from her family.On display, you’ll find original clothing, Martha Berry’s worn oak writing desk, family photographs, and decorative arts collected in the early 1900s.Number four.The Martha Berry Museum, built next to the estate in 1972, features several exhibition areas, including a permanent display on her life and work that follows her childhood, her steadfast values, and the way she founded her schools through grit, deep faith, and a spark of innovation.Berry College’s growth traces its journey from a humble cabin in the countryside to sprawling grounds that rank among the largest college campuses in the nation.Multimedia presentations feature archival footage of school events, the crackle of old audio from assemblies, and candid interviews with students and faculty.Special Collections: Art Collection - features European paintings, sculptures, and ornate pieces, gifted by Martha Berry’s sister, Eugenia, who married Prince Enrico of Italy.Historic furniture and decorative arts, drawn from the Berry family’s collection and other pieces of the era, including a walnut desk worn smooth at the edges.The museum also rotates special exhibits, spotlighting themes from Southern women’s lives in history to rural classrooms and the philanthropic drives that shaped the early 1900s.Five.The estate’s gardens sprawl across more than four acres, carefully shaped between 1927 and 1933 by landscape architect Robert B., with stone paths winding through beds of roses and clipped hedges.Cridland tapped his pen against the desk.Featured Gardens: The Formal Boxwood Garden is framed by neat hedges, bursts of seasonal blooms, and a fountain that splashes softly at its center.The Sundial Garden boasts a centuries-old timepiece and once bloomed with hundreds of fragrant rose varieties.Goldfish Garden is a quiet nook with a pond at its heart, rimmed by water lilies and bright blooms-Martha’s favorite, or so the story goes.The Sunken Garden unfolds like a natural amphitheater, its terraces alive with bursts of spring blossoms.These gardens blend rich history with beauty, and they’re part of an All-America Selections Display Garden, where bright, hardy blooms show off sustainable, high-performance plants.Number six sits there, plain and sharp, like a mark on a white page.Several historic structures still stand, including a few weathered outbuildings and the original educational sites-like the log cabin where Martha Berry’s mission first took root.She taught literacy and religion to the local mountain children in a single-room cabin that smelled faintly of woodsmoke.The cabin still holds its original furniture, along with the worn chalkboards and lesson books that once filled its classroom.● Carriage House & Garage Displays Martha Berry’s 1914 Ford Touring Car and 1940 Mercury, both representing early automotive history and her accessibility outreach efforts.● Martha Freeman Cottage Home of Martha Berry’s longtime friend and housekeeper.The Carriage House and Garage showcase Martha Berry’s gleaming 1914 Ford Touring Car alongside a sturdy 1940 Mercury, both preserving a slice of early automotive history and her work to make travel more accessible.The Martha Freeman Cottage once belonged to Martha Berry’s close friend and longtime housekeeper, where the scent of fresh biscuits often drifted from the kitchen.It shares the story of African American service workers whose hard work-polishing floors, tending fires-kept the estate running and helped launch the early Berry Schools.Seven.Guided tours, led by Berry College students, share lively, personal stories-like pointing out the oak tree where campus traditions began.Visitors can wander the estate at their own pace, brochure in hand or phone open to the app, pausing to admire the scent of fresh roses along the path.We offer educational programs for school groups and tourists, bringing history to life through storytelling, archival displays, and hands-on learning modules you can explore, like leafing through a century-old diary.Eight.
