Heritage Ball

            Heritage Ball 2008 will be held on Saturday evening, June 7 at the Wynn House, 1240 Wynnton Road.  Originally named Oakview because of the grove of oak trees on the property, this magnificent Greek revival mansion features two story Doric columns spanning the front and sides, two flat-roofed piazzas, a widow’s walk, and a cupola.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, United States Department of the Interior, in 1972.

            Built in the late 1830s it was originally the home of Colonel William L. Wynn, one of Columbus’s earliest and most prominent residents.  Colonel Wynn, a Methodist minister, was active in government as well as educational, social, and religious affairs in Columbus.  He served as a representative to the State Legislature in 1832 and was a co-founder of the Wynnton Academies.  His home was often the scene of large social gatherings.
            In 1852 the property was sold to Henry Hurt, a bachelor who, according to tradition, had planned to live in the home following his marriage.  He added marble mantles and other ornamentation but never actually lived in the house.  The marriage did not take place and he sold the house to Colonel Hines Holt in 1855.

            Holt was a prominent attorney and Georgia congressional representative.  As a delegate to the Milledgeville Convention in 1861, he voted against secession from the Union.  He then later served as a representative to the Confederate congress.  After the War Between the States, he was elected as a delegate from Columbus to serve Georgia during the Reconstruction period. 

            In 1906, J. Thomas Cooper purchased the house and, using mule power, moved the structure forward three hundred feet to the crest of the hill so that the land surrounding the house could be subdivided.  Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Butler bought the home in 1932, completely restored the property, and further enhanced the residence.  James W. Woodruff, Jr. bought the Butler home in 1958 and the historic mansion became the site of the Christian Fellowship Association.

            Heritage Ball 1988 was held at the CFA, now Wynn House, and it is appropriate that a home, which served for so many years as a social gathering place for Columbus, is the site of Historic Columbus’s 40th annual Heritage Ball.