Kennesaw’s historic McAfee House is moving north to be restored

“I feel like nobody else wants to save historic things. They just want to knock them down,” Brittani Lusk said Tuesday in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re trying to be different.”

The two said they’ve renovated more than 50 historic homes, including the 1906 Wheeler House, which they operate as a wedding venue in Ball Ground. They also have relocated old structures, including a train depot they brought from Tennessee to Georgia with plans to renovate.

Trevor Beemon, the director of Cobb Landmarks, has spent years searching for a viable future for the McAfee House. It’s one of metro Atlanta’s last pre-Civil War structures.

The home served as Brig. Gen. Kenner Garrard’s Union headquarters in June 1864, and may have also served as a Confederate field hospital. It was built with pine timbers joined by wooden pegs and still retains its original pine floors, walls and ceilings, according to Cobb Landmarks.

The current property owners donated the home to the nonprofit, which listed it for sale for $1 for someone willing and able to relocate and preserve it. The guidelines required that the exterior be kept to its original appearance, while the interior can be renovated.

Beemon said he received 40 applications and that a committee then chose the one most likely to be successful.

The Lusks emerged as the home’s new buyers this month.

“They were the perfect candidate, with their background relocating historic structures and owning and renovating historic structures,” Beemon said. “They definitely have that passion for historic preservation.”

The Lusks also know to look out for a blood stain that local lore says a bleeding Civil War soldier left behind as they remove the home’s carpets to reveal the original flooring.

Brittani Lusk grew up in Cobb County, and her mother went to Bells Ferry Elementary School across the street from the McAfee House, she said. So when the Lusks saw the home was available and needed saving, they jumped at the chance.

“We always loved this home, and always had fear that it would be torn down,” Lee Lusk said. “We’re honored that we were chosen out of so many people to be entrusted in moving the home and saving its integrity.”

Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Miguel Martinez

The developer interested in purchasing the property agreed to give them until May to remove the home, Beemon said. It sits on a coveted corner lot destined for commercial development, not far from Town Center at Cobb mall.

Last year, the site was under contract with a developer who wanted to build a car wash. But that deal fell through, leaving the house’s future uncertain.

Now, it’s slated to most likely become a private residence, or possibly a museum, right next to the Lusks' home in downtown Ball Ground. The renovation project, including peeling back layers of wallpaper and carpet while taking special care to preserve original elements of the home, will take about a year, they said. The initial work preparing for the extensive move to Cherokee County begins next week.

“We wanted to share this with everybody, and if it’s on private land, no one could ever see it,” Lee Lusk said. “So we decided to put it downtown, next to where we currently live.”

For years, the McAfee House has served as a piece of history amid modern development. Those who drive by and have grown accustomed to seeing the house may be disappointed that it’ll be removed. But when faced with the choice of tearing it down or relocating it, those who care the most about it have said relocating is the best alternative.

Beverly McAfee, whose late husband Don counted Robert McAfee as one of his great-grandfathers, told the AJC in 2023 that she hoped the home would be moved so it could be preserved. The fifth-generation Cobb resident spent decades working to preserve history in her home county. She died last year at age 84.

For those who shared her passion, the landmark won’t be too far away to visit.

“People of Cobb County that are in love with the home and want to see it saved, they’d be able to drive by and pretty much see all the way around it and get to observe the beautiful home in its most original state on a new property,” Lee Lusk said.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Beemon has worked to save the McAfee House over the past five years, meeting with prospective developers and searching for a solution. He said he is thrilled with the outcome.

“We’re always trying to advocate for these structures and find solutions for them,” Beemon said. “If it’s something that’s important to people, we would definitely appreciate their donations and their memberships dues, because that’s what funds all of these efforts.”