The Tait-Starr Home, better known as White Columns, is one of the most renowned antebellum plantation houses of Alabama’s Black Belt region. Throughout the years, it has been featured in numerous national magazines and books concerning the architecture or history of the antebellum Alabama Black Belt. This house is located in the community of Possum Bend near Camden. Built in the late 1850s, it is a sophisticated blend of Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The house is particularly noted for its massive Doric Columns that support the hipped roofs of twin porticos, one of which faces west and one south. Four columns of massive proportions line each portico which stretches the full length and width of the main body of the house. The columns were constructed of eight pine boards 12 inches wide and un-spliced from bottom to top. The house contains 18 rooms with two massive central halls (24 by 55 feet). The primary rooms are 24 feet square with 14-foot ceilings. On the north side, porches enclosed on three sides by the main body and rear wing, are found on both levels.
This home was built for Major Felix Tait. Major Tait served in the Mexican War and in the Confederate Army. He was the son of Captain James Asbury Tait and the grandson of Charles Tait, a U.S. Senator from Georgia and the first federal judge in Alabama. In the late 1870s, the home was acquired by Samuel Tepper, an English-born resident of Camden who had inherited a fortune from his cousin, the famous English landscape painter J.M.W. Turner. Tepper purchased the home as a wedding gift for his daughter, Molly, and her husband, Dr. Lucius Ernest Starr. The Starr family moved into the residence on January 1, 1880. It is now nearly one and a half centuries later, and the Starr family still owns and occupies this home.
The house was photographed and recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1936, with photographs taken by Alex Bush that are now preserved in the Library of Congress. White Columns was added to the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage (ARLH) in 1976.
This home is located near Camden in the Possum Bend community on Wilcox CR 23 approximately 1.8 miles south of the intersection of Wilcox CR 23 and State Hwy 10 (Google Maps).
IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a private residence – drive by only.
Sources: 1) Wilcox Historical Society: 2) ARLH Registration Form for White Columns: 3) Historic Plantations of Alabama’s Black Belt by Jennifer Hale (2009): 4) The Heritage of Wilcox County, Alabama, published by Heritage Publishing Consultants, Inc.
B&W photographs courtesy the U. S. Library of Congress (HABS), photographer: Alex Bush, date: August 29, 1936.
Last updated: 02/21/2026