An architect writing a book about the historic houses of the Gulf Coast region calls the John Ford Home “the most important house that has never been measured and drawn.”
Until now, that is.
Gregory Free of Austin, Texas, was busy surveying every detail of the more than 200-year-old dwelling Monday in Sandy Hook.
The expert noted that the structure is significant because it has been preserved in its original state rather than being restored. That came despite it being vulnerable because of its remote location, the proximity to the Pearl River, the chance of people not taking care of it and the threat of hurricanes, Free said.
“This is what is so special about the Ford Home: It was appreciated by the right people early on. It has been saved almost totally intact. It probably has more integrity than any historic building in the state,” he said.
He’s helping tell the story of many other dwelling places spanning from the Florida-Georgia line all the way around the Gulf to Campeche, Mexico, in the Yucatan Peninsula.
The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native worked for the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for a few years before moving to Austin about 35 years ago to start his own firm, Free & Associates. It focuses on historic preservation and design.
“The history of the Gulf Coast architecture his never been fully documented as one entity. Everybody comes to their county or their state line and they don’t always get the whole story,” he said about why he’s writing the book. “I was encouraged for years to do this and I finally decided to take the time away from work and do this book. I have two university presses that are supporting us and it’s called ‘American Gulf, an Architectural Story.’”
The book will talk about the need to preserve the historic Gulf Coast architecture and honor all those who saved them. That includes the Ford Home.
“This is the most important house that has never been measured and drawn,” Free said. “The Historic American Building Survey went around the country in the 1930s and they photographed the John Ford Home, but they didn’t have time to measure every building. They were focused on Natchez and so many other cities. It was part of the WPA. It was a way to employ artists and architects when there were no jobs.”
The area where the John Ford Home is located on was West Florida during the time of the American Revolution. Many of the settlers were loyalists to England.
“They could get lucrative land grants from the British,” Free said. “They knew the soil was great. They sent John Bartam to study it. John Ford saw all of this. He was an intelligent man. He’s also the only person that was so well documented He came to this area and built a sizable place and it has been preserved, conserved and cherished for all of this time. That’s why it is so important. It documents almost the entire loyalist movement for this part of the country.”
Free said the Gulf of Mexico was “the interstate system” of the day, and the Ford Home’s proximity to New Orleans meant a variety of cultural influences in the period that the home was built (around 1800).
“The cultures combined, and the architecture shows the work to find a way to live in this hot, tropical, soppy, wet, gumbo soil area,” he said. “Many had come from places where there wasn’t anything like that.”
He’s most interested in the form of the building over the style – think floor plans rather than mantels and moldings. He said floor plans tend to be like genealogy maps.
“Style is something that is learned, but form – people built like their parents built. This study is only houses, not commercial buildings. Houses told you who you were. They spoke to who you really were, but churches, courthouses and city halls and other buildings like that kind of speak to who you want to be or who you want people to think you are,” he said.
Part of the significance of the Ford Home is that the Marion County Historical Society maintained it as it was found.
“It didn’t need any improvements. This is pure, honest, grassroots preservation against a lot of odds. It’s a miraculous savings,” Free said.
Pictured Above: Gregory Free of Austin, Texas, left, talks about his work surveying historic homes in the Gulf Coast region for an upcoming book Monday at the John Ford Home. | Photo by Mark Rogers
