About The Brown House Museum
The Brown House Museum is a restored nineteenth-century residence in Sandersville operated by the Washington County Historical Society. Originally known as Woodland Terrace, the house was built in 1850 by Nathan Haynes and purchased by William Gainer Brown in 1860; generations of the Brown family continued to live there until the late twentieth century.
Its most prominent Civil War connection came during Sherman’s March to the Sea in November 1864, when General William T. Sherman used the house as his headquarters while passing through Sandersville. Museum interpretation includes period furnishings, Civil War material, and a fainting couch on which Sherman is traditionally said to have rested, along with objects and stories tied to Washington County residents.
The museum also broadens the story beyond the Civil War with exhibits on local pottery, the kaolin industry, county cemeteries, community life, and regional history. Because it combines a documented Sherman connection with the history of a small Georgia community, it offers a more intimate counterpoint to larger battlefield and military museums.
