Arthur Pendleton Bagby, who served two terms as Governor of Alabama (1837 and 1839) and later as a U. S. Senator, moved to Camden in 1853. He contracted with Henry F. Cook to build a home “befitting a man of position”. They agreed to a price of $3,750 to be paid for in three installments. Unfortunately, Bagby could not make the payments, and the property was sold at public auction to Thomas King Beck to satisfy Mr. Cook’s lien. (Beck was the nephew of Vice President William Rufus King.)
In 1896, the house was purchased by John Russell Liddell Sr. The home was occupied for many years by his son, Will Liddel and his wife, Viola Goode Liddell. Viola was known as an accomplished writer, memoirist, poet, and local historian who documented life in Alabama’s Black Belt during the 20th century. She became especially known for her vivid memoirs about rural southern life, the Great Depression, and the social changes that took place in Wilcox County.
This two-story home features square box columns, a hallmark of Cook, and has supporting timbers that are secured by mortised joints and wooden pegs. The floors are 6-inch pine.
This house was photographed and recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1936. It is located in Camden on the west side of Broad Street approximately 0.8 mile NW of courthouse square (Google Maps).
This is a private residence – drive by only.
B&W photographs courtesy U. S. Library of Congress (HABS), photographer: E. W. Russell, Date: June 17, 1936.
Sources: 1) Wilcox Historical Society, 2) The Alabama Catalog, A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State, by Robert Gamble; 3) encyclopediaofalabama.org/viola-goode-liddell/.