Panola Hall - 400 N.Madison Eatonton Georgia

 This grand, majestic Greek Revival known as “Panola Hall” with huge Doric columns lining its porch and a large second floor balcony overlooking splendid grounds of gardenias, camellias, magnolias, azaleas, hydrangeas, heirloom petunias, rhododendron and multitudes of other southern period plantings that fill the air with a fragrance known only in The South, was home to the well known Dr. Benjamin Hunt. (1847-1934)

A former New York banker, Benjamin Hunt became known for his contributions to the dairy industry and livestock improvement in Putnam County and middle Georgia. Also recognized for horticultural experimentation and animal husbandry, Hunt had a lasting impact on the Georgia Piedmont.

Benjamin Weeks Hunt was born in 1847, the youngest child of Mary Quinby and Benjamin Hunt, prosperous New York Quakers. He was educated at Mount Kisco Academy in New York. Trained in business, Hunt then worked for a large financial house. In 1876, shortly after his marriage to Louise Prudden, a poet and member of a prominent Eatonton, Georgia, family, Hunt decided to make his home in Putnam County.

Upon moving to Eatonton, Hunt brought the first registered Jersey cows to Georgia. Unfortunately, half of this original herd died from splenic fever. Also called tick, Southern, and Texas fever, the disease caused the value and production abilities of cattle to drop by as much as 40 percent. Believing the Piedmont region’s climate to be ideal for livestock, Hunt began to investigate causes of and cures for the disease. Hunt was the first to immunize cattle successfully against the fever. Furthermore, he organized Putnam County’s Anti-Tick Association and lobbied, against strong opposition, for a state tick eradication law.

In his effort to improve livestock Hunt also investigated the cause of bovine osteoporosis. After collaborating with veterinarians at the University of Kentucky, Hunt determined that a dietary insufficiency in the region’s alluvial soil was the culprit and could be adjusted for by treating animals with supplements of phosphate of lime and adequate sunshine. Hunt freely shared his discoveries with local farmers and in agricultural journals.

Hunt was a friend of Louis Pasteur’s, the French scientist who invented the process of pasteurization and developed a vaccine for rabies. When a rabid cat bit Hunt in 1898, he immediately traveled to the Pasteur Institute in France for treatment. After receiving double dosages of the rabies vaccination in half the time of the normal procedure, Hunt recovered and returned home determined to establish such an institute in Georgia. Established in 1901, the Pasteur Institute in Atlanta provided all Georgians with access to Pasteur’s rabies treatment. The institute operated independently until 1908, when it was taken over by the state’s health department.

Hunt also was the force behind the first cotton mill in Eatonton, the Eatonton Public Library and the Middle Georgia Railroad. The railroad connected Covington to Eatonton and provided the means for Putnam County to export its dairy products quickly to more urban areas. He drew on his financial experience to help establish the Middle Georgia Bank, which was the first lender to make loans against agricultural commodities other than cotton.

Hunt received national recognition as a horticulturist and served as an assistant to the U.S. Department of Agriculture by receiving exotic plants to observe. Originator of the “Hunt fig,” a hearty hybrid that could withstand the Georgia winters, Hunt encouraged farmers to grow a variety of fruits that could be sold in the North. Hunt’s contributions won him admiration and gratitude. In 1922 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Georgia. He died at his home in Eatonton in 1934 and is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery there.

Built by James M. Broadfield in 1854 for Henry Trippe, the home boast over 6,000 square feet including the lower of three levels, all of which have gracious wide center halls running front to back.

Dr. Hunt , a native New Yorker, acquired “Panola Hall” in 1891 after his marriage to Louisa Prudden, member of a prominent Eatonton Georgia family. A former New York banker, Benjamin Hunt became known for his contributions to the dairy industry and livestock improvement in Putnam County and middle Georgia. Also recognized for horticultural experimentation and animal husbandry, Hunt had a lasting impact on the Georgia Piedmont. He was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Georgia.

Many of the plants from Panola Hall’s Hunt era still remain on the grounds… Cherry, plum and dogwood trees, Hunt fig and varieties of Hunt muscadines are nestled among the domed Grecian well house, lovely historic concrete pond and remnants of an excavated carriage path…. all in harmony with nature offering year round beauty on this totally fenced property.

The Hunts set about updating the house, adding some Victorian elements inside the house. 

The Music Room

Mrs. Hunt was an accomplished musician and published poet.

The Dining Room

The Parlor

The Kitchen

Second Floor

Central Upstairs Hall

Front Right Bedroom 

Master Bath

Back Right Master Sitting Room 

Front Left Bedroom 

Back Left Sitting/Bathroom

In two different colors

Basement

Garden

Sylvia, the ghost of Panola Hall

There are several stories about the ghost here – the most popular:  A daughter of the first owners, who was unhappy about an arranged marriage fell into a large trunk the day of her wedding.  Her parents entered the room, and finding a window open figured she had run away and immediately had the room sealed up and never opened again.

Another story is that a friend of one of the Trippe daughters (original owners of the house) jumped off the front balcony to her death upon hearing her fiancé had been killed in the Civil War.

Mrs. Hunt named the ghost “Sylvia”, most likely after a popular song of the period.  She usually appears on the stairwell, in a white hoopskirt dress, with a rose in her hair.  People who have seen her mention the intense small of roses.

A guest of the Hunts encountered Sylvia on the stairs, and moved out of the way to let her pass.  Looking forward to meeting her, he was disappointed to see there was not an additional place setting at dinner.  When he mentioned encountering Sylvia, the Hunts had to tell him that he had seen a ghost.

She’s a shy ghost and doesn’t appear for everyone.  Mrs. Hunt once wrote “Sylvia is a kind apparition and is most likely to only show herself to the finest of people, so it is considered a compliment when she is seen”.  Miss Bessie Butler, who inherited Panola Hall in 1934 did not believe in ghosts…until she was at Panola Hall in 1929 and Sylvia spoke to her.  After that, she was a firm believer!

Sylvia made her first appearance to the home’s second owners, Dr. and Mrs. Hunt shortly after they moved in. Sylvia is said to be wearing a white, hoop-skirt dress and a rose placed neatly in her brown hair. It is also said that Sylvia brings an intense aroma of roses to the rooms and people that she encounters. Mrs. Hunt wrote a brief poem about Sylvia

Sylvia’s coming down the stair—

Pretty Sylvia, young and fair.

Oft and oft I meet her there,

Smile on lip and rose in hair.

Stand aside and let her pass—

Little room she takes, alas!

Sylvia died, they tell me so,

Died a hundred years ago.

There are many stories the float around about how Sylvia died. The one that I have heard the most is that she fell in love with a man that was lower in social status than her. Her family had already arranged a marriage for her to a man that was “more her type” and that would fit in with her family. One the day of the wedding, Sylvia was planning to run away. While standing by the window to climb out, she fell into a trunk or some piece of large furniture that was next to the window. When her parents came to her room and saw what looked like she had escaped, they grieved and boarded up her room and it was never opened again.