When the Ladsons had the Croft-Brooks House dismantled, workers carefully labeled and stored each piece so that entire sections like the front door and
entryway could be reassembled. During the restoration, the original Croft-Brooks House wood mantle revealed hand-painted trompe l’oeil style marbleing.
HOMETOWN LIVING AT I TS BEST 61
renowned architect, and his wife, the couples stopped at a gas
station in Edgefield, South Carolina. (Jones, a neoclassical
architect, would later become well known for renovations he
made in the White House during the Richard Nixon, Gerald
Ford and Jimmy Carter administrations.) Off in the distance,
Jack noticed an old house sitting on a hill. Nothing would do
but to get a closer look.
When Edward Jones looked into the history of the
Federal-style house, he discovered that the Croft-Brooks
House, as it was named, had been built in the 1770s.
Remodeled and enlarged around the time of the 1812 war,
more additions had also been made around the time of the
Civil War. “The property was owned by an investment group,”
said Dorsey. “Governor Carl Sanders, a former governor
of Georgia, was one of its members.” (Sanders served as
Governor of Georgia from 1963-67.) “The house was in bad
shape, and the investment group planned to tear it down to
make way for a new industrial park they planned to build.
My grandparents made them an offer for the house, and they
accepted.”
Over the months that followed, Margaret made the drive
from Edgefield, South Carolina, to Vidalia again and again to
watch over the dismantling of the Croft-Brooks house. “She
made sure every piece, each board, window, and mantle were