Jeptha H. Wade

THIRD HANDSOMEST PLACE IN THE ENTIRE SOUTH

IS HOUSE OF J. H. WADE, AT THOMASVILLE, GEORGIA

(left) WINTER HOME IN GEORGIA OF J. H. WADE, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO. (right) INTERIOR OF J. H. WADE's THOMASVILLE HOME.

This is recognized as the third finest house

in the south. It has just been completed at Thomasville, Ga., at a cost of $200,000.

By Wilson M. Hardy.

The finishing strokes are being put on the third handsomest winter home in the south. The estate is that of Jeptha H. Wade, of Cleveland, Ohio, and $200,000 will hardly cover the investment he has made in a winter paradise at Thomasville.

Mr. Wade is a lover of nature, and, at the same time, a disciple of Roosevelt's strenuous life. He owned a magnificent home in Cleveland, where he ranks as one of the shrewdest business men of Ohio, but the cramp of the city gave little opportunity for the indulgence of his nature-love.

Two winters ago Mr. Wade came with his wife on a visit to Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Morse in Thomasville. This was just after Mr. Morse had brought to a consummation the beauties of "Inwood plantation," the estate that was said to be excelled only by Vanderbilt's Biltmore place and Flagler's winter home. Mr. Wade was carried away with the delights of "Inwood," and the perfection of Thomasville's climate. He concluded immediately that Thomasville people were right in their claim that paradise was located in this vicinity. He had aroused within him an ambition to walk in paths of his own making in Thomasville, and his ambition would not down until it was satisfied.

Desire for Increased Acres.

At the instigation of his good host, whose hospitality was none below that of his distinguished brother-in-law, Senator Mark Hanna, Mr. Wade began a campaign of prospecting. The campaign soon culminated in the purchase by him of the old Linton place, 2 miles from Thomasville. The land-owning appetite once aroused within him was not easily put aside, and with more than three thousand acres of land already credited to him, Mr. Wade still purchases.

The determination to own a country estate finally settled on, no talent in America was too great for employment in developing the estate. Plans for the house were called for from one of the leading architectural firms of the north. The house was built according to these plans by James Gribben, a contractor of Thomasville, who has built more winter cottages than any other man in Georgia. The house has been two years in building, but the fruit of the labor is its own justification.

A Mammoth Sun Parlor.

According to the ideals of the old Mexicans, the house was planned. It is of brick, with stucco finish, square and low, and presents the impression of an old-time Spanish fort. The outside measurements of the building are 130 by 140 feet, but inside the fortress walls there is a court just 100 feet square. This court is the feature of the house. It is covered, like an immense conservatory, with glass. The construction of the steel frame to support this glass covering was one of the problems of the project. With all the enormous weight of the glass there is not a pillar under the entire frame. It is built like the middle span of a Cantilever bridge, and during its construction the sounds given forth led the neighbors for miles around to think they lived near a boiler factory.

Mr. Wade has searched almost the ends of the earth for rare plants with which to adorn his sun parlor, as the glass court is sometimes called. He has succeeded in finding for it such a collection of flora as is not often found in this or any other country. A special kind of palm that flourishes only in southern France is a favorite of Mr. Wade's, and to southern France he sent and secured choice specimens.

All Rooms on Ground Floor.

Only one side of the house is two stories high and only the servants' rooms are in the second story. Every bed chamber and every guest chamber is on the first floor, and like every other room in the house opens on the court. It is an odd feature of the house that not a room in it has any communication with the outside world except by windows. The living room of the house is the fort of the interior. It occupies almost one whole of the building and a good part of the whole long side of the room is taken up with an immense window.

Under the old regime, there was a little pond on the place, away off behind a hill, far out of sight of the house. Mr. Wade is fond of the water features of landscape, and to make the view from the living room perfect, he had the lake trebled in size till it now covers more than thirty acres, and had the offending hill cut away and the forest thinned. He can now stand before his living room window and watch his swans glide on the peaceful water of the pond. The cutting away of this hill for the sake of a view is characteristic of Mr. Wade's policy in connection with his pet project. He allows nothing to deter him from his purpose.

It is from this lake feature that the place has won its name, "Mill Pond Plantation," a name somewhat too prosaic for the beautiful poetry of the life of its owners.

Mill Pond plantation is even more attractive than the mansion. It has been planned by Warren H. Manning, of Boston. Mr. Manning is the landscape architect who is due the credit for Biltmore, and is now laying out the grounds of the Jamestown exposition. Roads are being cut and landscape improvements extended in every conceivable direction. This part of the work is still in its very inception and many months will pass before Mr. Manning's work is complete.

Mill Pond plantation is not a lonely paradise. The Wade family is one of the few that death seems to have favored. Both Mr. Wade's mother and Mrs. Garretson, his wife's mother, are still living, and are part of the household. Miss Helen Wade, the young lady daughter, is a genial person, and the days are few when she has no friend as her guest. Just now she is the hostess at an Easter house party. Her two brothers, who are too deeply engulfed in the business life of Cleveland to spend the entire winter at Mill Pond plantation, are expected to be members of the party.

Mr. Wade himself is genuinely fond of his estate. He gets up at 6 o'clock each morning and from then until dark is on his horse, enjoying the beauties of nature that his place guarantees him. Just at this particular time, when thousands of different plants and trees are in full bloom, Mill Pond place is irresistible.

The Wades are so enchanted with the plantation and the freedom it gives, that they do not intend leaving until May, when they go on an extended yachting tour.

Many years will pass and many thousands of dollars be spent before the south will boast of another place the superior of Mill Pond plantation.