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The Pope Home

20 Fontaine Drive

Joseph Brown built this house in the late 1840 on Perry Street. It was, in 1976, one of only thirteen pre-1860 homes left in Newnan. The property was rezoned and purchased for use as a parking lot and the house was to be demolished. Through the efforts of the Newnan Coweta Historical Society and Georgia Shapiro, the purchaser donated the house to NCHS to be sold, moved and restored. Paula Smith purchased the home and moved it to it’s current site raising the foundation to give the appearance of an original county home. This provided space for what is not an office, kitchenette, full bath, workout room, shop, and storage in addition to a two-car garage. The only change to the house while on Perry Street was to the front porch which ran the width of the house and had Victorian gingerbread trim. The front door had also been altered to be a single door with stained glass side panels. Once moved, the trim and door frame were moved to the rear of the house and rear porch. A new double door, side and fan lights from period homes elsewhere in Georgia were added, and a smaller, ante-bellum front porch and columns were added. The original center hall with three rooms on each side can still be seen despite some changes. A bath was added in the hall, a door in the hall was closed to enable a solid wall in the new kitchen and the roof was raised to allow the original two upstairs rooms to become three bedrooms and two baths. The kitchen, which would have originally been detached, was added to the rear of the home, paneled with barn board siding and a large wood burning fireplace added. The original chimneys were removed in the move and now house gas logs but with original mantels, believed to have been made by RD Cole.