The Wilson-Finlay House, also known as the Joshua Wilson House and Finlay House, is a historic plantation

Plantation

A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...

 house in Gainestown

Gainestown, Alabama

Gainestown is an unincorporated community on the Alabama River in Clarke County, Alabama, United States. It was named for George Strother Gaines. Gaines established an Indian trading post here in 1809.The exact date for the founding of the town is unclear...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

. It was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage

Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage

The Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, commonly referred to as the Alabama Register, is an official listing of buildings, sites, structures, objects, and districts deemed worthy of preservation in the U.S. state of Alabama. These properties, which may be of national, state, and local...

 on September 17, 1976. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on July 12, 1978, due to its architectural significance.

History

The house was built circa 1846 for Dr. Joshua Sanford Wilson by Isaac Fuller from Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

. Wilson, born in 1792 in Halifax County, North Carolina

Halifax County, North Carolina

-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:-Demographics:[[Image:HalifaxCountyCotton.wmg.jpg|left|thumb|A cotton field blooms in Halifax County....

, was a physician, planter, and politician. His father, the Reverend

The Reverend

The Reverend is a style most often used as a prefix to the names of Christian clergy and ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and church traditions. The Reverend is correctly called a style but is often and in some dictionaries called a...

 Joshua Wilson, settled in Gainestown around 1817. He was a Revolutionary War

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

 veteran and Methodist

Methodism

Methodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...

 minister.

As of 2011, the house is owned by the Louis M. Finlay, Jr. family. They also maintain the Gainestown Schoolhouse

Gainestown Schoolhouse

The Gainestown Schoolhouse is a historic school building located on Clarke County Road 29 in Gainestown, Alabama. It was built in 1919 as a one-room schoolhouse and now serves as a guesthouse for the Wilson-Finlay House, located across the road...

, another National Register-listed property, on the grounds for use as a guest cottage.

Architecture

The two-story Greek Revival

Greek Revival architecture

The Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. A product of Hellenism, it may be looked upon as the last phase in the development of Neoclassical architecture...

-style house is wood-frame with limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 ashlar

Ashlar

Ashlar is prepared stone work of any type of stone. Masonry using such stones laid in parallel courses is known as ashlar masonry, whereas masonry using irregularly shaped stones is known as rubble masonry. Ashlar blocks are rectangular cuboid blocks that are masonry sculpted to have square edges...

 foundations and front columns, an unusual feature in Alabama. The limestone, with visible marine fossils present, was quarried

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 locally, at the Gainestown Quarry on the Alabama River

Alabama River

The Alabama River, in the U.S. state of Alabama, is formed by the Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about north of Montgomery.The river flows west to Selma, then southwest until, about from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee, forming the Mobile and Tensaw rivers, which discharge into...

. The house is rectangular in form and utilizes a central hall-type plan. A central two-tiered Doric

Doric order

The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...

 portico

Portico

A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls...

 fronts the structure. A louver

Louver

A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...

ed fanlight

Fanlight

A fanlight is a window, semicircular or semi-elliptical in shape, with glazing bars or tracery sets radiating out like an open fan, It is placed over another window or a doorway. and is sometimes hinged to a transom. The bars in the fixed glazed window spread out in the manner a sunburst...

 is centered in the pediment

Pediment

A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...

above the portico.