Discover the Root House Museum in Marietta Georgia - It was built circa 1845 at the corner of Church and Lemon Street by Hannah and William Root.
General Info
Mr. Root was one of Marietta’s earliest merchants and its first druggist. He was the first merchant to receive a shipment of goods on the Western and Atlantic Railroad.
Today, the Greek Revival style house stands just two blocks from its original location. It is one of the oldest surviving frame houses in Marietta, and offers a glimpse of the home life of a middle class merchant and his family. This simple frame house is more typical of its time and place than the grand mansions often on display.
Volunteer docents tell the story of the house, the Root family, and life in Marietta in the 1850s. Furnished with period furniture in the fashion of the 1850s, each room shows evidence of middle class life-style. Great effort has been made to bring only authentic pieces to the house. Outside visits can visit the recreated kitchen and see the working 1850s cookstove. They can walk among the flower beds and vegetable plots planted with plants that were available in Cobb County before 1860.
Amenities: Parking, Public Restrooms, Accessibility for mobility-impaired
Special Exhibits
Root House Garden - The Root House Garden is designed to reflect the gardening practices of the mid-19th century. The Root’s garden in the 19th century would have contained plants that were either ornamental, medicinal, or edible, or a combination of types. The garden is planted with vegetables, culinary herbs, medicinal herbs, fruit trees, decorative flowers and blooming shrubs. All the plants have been researched for the availability in Georgia at the time the Root House was built. A visit to the garden is a great opportunity to see just how many plants we grow today have been gracing Southern gardens for a very long time. When was the last time you sat under a Chinaberry Tree?
Root House Museum Store - Mr. Root's Store, located in the Root House Museum, offers historic books and gifts which are reminiscent of Cobb County in the 19th century. Cobb Landmarks publications found here include Cobb County, Georgia and the Origins of the Suburban South: A Twentieth-Century History by Thomas A. Scott, Historic Highlights in Cobb County by Bowling C. Yates, and The First Hundred Years: A Short History of Cobb County, in Georgia, by Sarah Blackwell Gober Temple. Other publications are available, along with a variety of items including historic plates, ornaments and brooches.
