$1.6M Sandy Springs spread is painstaking homage to Georgia’s antebellum history

Anchored by a Piedmont Plains-style farmhouse that once belonged to a Confederate colonel, this property marketed as one of Sandy Springs’s “greatest gems” is the antithesis of a fly-by-night real estate flip.

In fact, the assemblage of historical structures and multifaceted restoration project was nearly 40 years in the making. The painstaking process once saw owners Roger and Cindy Bregenzer using toothbrushes to lend a weatherworn appearance to fresh mortar.

What used to be a standalone, ramshackle farmhouse at the end of a dirt road is much more now: a potential attraction for history buffs and fans of pioneer-era simplicity.

The three-acre spread is located a few miles OTP, tucked among upscale subdivisions near the Chattahoochee River and Holcomb Bridge Road, between Roswell and Norcross.

The primary home, constructed in 1854, once belonged to farmer Charles N. Woodall, who would go on to serve as a Civil War colonel. It was made fanciful in the Victorian era, neglected during the Great Depression, wrapped in aluminum siding, and then abandoned when the Bregenzers bought it in 1980 for housing a large antique collection and raising their young children.

In the decades since, the property’s been featured in magazines, books, and TV shows. And for good reason.

Beyond the restored and expanded 12-room farmhouse (with a circa-1840 log cabin addition from Monroe, Georgia), the grounds include an antique garage (1830, Mount Airy), two-story guest house (1840, Gordon), an outhouse (1840, Jonesboro), and late 20th century five-car garage used for storage. Total square footage is listed as 5,297.

Zoned residential, the property could make for a “lovely museum,” bed and breakfast, or event space, the listing suggests.

Have a look below at how “modern homesteaders” had a “vision to return this gem to the simple elegance of a bygone era” and the “mettle to achieve it,” as marketing materials state.

It’s listed for $1,650,000 via Sterling Real Estate Team at Keller Williams Buckhead. (Head here for a video production that helps put the entire property in context).