This historic antebellum plantation home is one of the finest examples of neoclassical architecture in Alabama. Youpon was built circa 1847-48 for William T. Mathews, under direction of contractor George Lynch from Maryland. Mathews was a planter and local builder who relocated to Camden from Connecticut by way of Haiti.
This is a three-story house that has two full floors on top of a raised brick full basement. The basement originally contained servant spaces. The first floor contained formal rooms and bedrooms were on the uppermost floor. The first floor has sliding interior doors and plantation windows which allowed this entire floor to be converted into a dance floor. The front of this home features a large veranda supported by four fluted Doric columns and a full-width cantilevered second floor balcony.
Formerly, two octagonal dependencies (a kitchen and guest house) were located behind the house. The octagonal detached kitchen was destroyed in a fire around 1900, and the remaining octagonal dependency was then moved and connected to the rear porch of the main house to serve as a kitchen. The rear porch was fully enclosed in 1978. The home was named Youpon for the species of holly that once bordered the circular entrance drive.
This house was photographed and recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1936-1937. It is featured in The Alabama Catalog, A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State, by Robert Gamble.
This home is located in Wilcox County on County Hwy 19 approx. one mile from the junction with Ala. Hwy 28 at the Canton Bend community (Google Maps).
This is a private residence – drive by only.
The photographs that are provided include B&W pictures taken for HABS by photographer, Alex Bush, on January 9, 1937.
Sources: 1) Wilcox Historical Society; 2) Wikipedia/Youpon_Plantation; 3) The Alabama Catalog: A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State by Robert Gamble. pp. 366–367