This house stood for better than 100 yrs near Lower Peach Tree Alabama. Today it stands Proudly and Stately in Uriah, Alabama having been moved in the early 1960's by W E Garrett. William D King was a nephew Of William Rufus King, an Alabama Politician who served as the Vice President of the United States. William Rufus King settled in the Black Belt but his nephew William D King came farther dowm
the Alabama River to Packers Bend to build one of the larges Plantations in the area. He started this massive mansion in the 1850's but it was never completed. The massive house had identical upper and lower floors with twin parlors, 16 fireplaces, and verandas on both levels. The Civil War was the likely reason it was never completed. William D King died Nov 20, 1866. King descendants continued to live in the house well into the 20th century. Mu father, W E Garrett, looked all over for an antebellum home to move to Uriah and restore. And he happened upon this beautiful Mansion that we now call "OCTAVIA" The King-Garrett Plantation House. When W E Garrett began to dismantle the house, he found an inscription on the bottom of 2 columns. It stated "August 15, 1862, The Yankees are unable take Vicksburg" and "September 21, 1862, After 15 months of fighting, suffering and expense, the Federals hold the same position. It remains to be seen whether they will destroy all men. God grant that this wholesale slaughter of men will soon cease." Nearly the entire house is pegged together, myfather (Garrett) said , making it easy to dismantle and re-assemble. "It was almost like a pre-fabricated house," he said. He also stated that this was the reason the house was not destroyed in the legendary tornado of 1913 that hit Lower Peach Tree. "The house will sway in the wind," he said, "sometimes as much as 3 or 4 feet. The house contains 9000 sq ft not including the verandas and the 4 rooms that were not moved with the house due to such extentsive damage at the hands of honey bees. There are 6 main rooms downstairs and upstairs plus the halls and 4 bathrooms. There also was an enclosed "secret" stairaway leading to a "hidden" room, which is now open and no longer hidden. Just one beam in tthe house is 12 inches square and 55 feet long. It took 50 sheets of sheetrock to cover 1 room and 82 gallons of paint to cover just the upstairs one time. It took 27 tractor trailers to haul the house to its present location, Uriah, Alabama
