Starr Home

"White Columns" 

Built in 1860.
  Located in Possum Bend area of Wilcox County. 

Timeless quality and lasting beauty is found at White Columns, the Possum Bend plantation home of Mrs. Ouida Starr Woodson.

The 1860 mansion is a nationally known Wilcox County home.  For several years, it was included on the State tour guide. Its incision in several national magazine articles and books written concerning antebellum architecture and history have drawn hundreds of visitors. In March 1975, White Columns was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. One catches his first glimpse of the old home upon rounding a curve in County Road 23. Massive Doric Columns rise to support the roofs of twin porticos, one of which faces south, the other facing west. Four octagon columns of massive proportions line each of the large porches. The architectural design blends Greek Revival and later developments of beauty.

Eighteen rooms with two central halls make up the floor plan. The halls are 14 x 55 feet and the large rooms are 24 feet square. Four rooms form a large rear wing. Three entrances open into the hallway. They are identical in design with rectangular paned transoms and sidelights. A mahogany stair winds around the end of a traverse hail above and to the side of the Smith portico doors. Heart pine flooring, the original plaster and original false grained finish of the interior doors remain in tact

Numerous family furnishings and articles of family heritage fill the rooms of the home. Family ancestor, Joseph Mallard William Turner, the renown EngIish landscape artist and engraver, is represented in the rooms of White Columns. Original steel engravings of Turner’s oil paintings and from his volumes of engravings, line the walls it the ball and parlors.

Major Felix Tait built the home. Samuel Tepper acquired the property in 1879, giving it to his daughter, Molly, and Dr. L E. Starr, as a wedding present.

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