Area 8.84 acres (3.58 ha) Architect Unknown Added to NRHP June 17, 1976 | Built 1835 (1835) NRHP Reference # 76000335 Opened 1835 | |
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Address Florence Blvd, Florence, AL 35630, USA Similar The Forks of Cypress, Wesleyan Hall, Pope's Tavern Museum, Belle Mont, Winston County Courthouse | ||
Sweetwater Mansion (also known as the Governor Robert Patton House), located in Florence, Alabama, is a plantation house designed by General John Brahan of the Alabama Militia. A veteran of the War of 1812, Brahan owned more than 4,000 acres in eastern Lauderdale County, Alabama. The eight room home was built of bricks manufactured on the site of Sweetwater Creek which lay just below the house. Sweetwater Mansion received its name from the creek and was first occupied by Brahan's son-in-law Robert M. Patton, a post-Civil War governor of Alabama, who completed the mansion in 1835.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Legends and Ghost Stories
Stories of paranormal activity have been told about the house for many years. Numerous apparitions have allegedly been seen in and around the house. One of the most interesting stories involves a caretaker who reported that she saw a casket laid out in one of the downstairs rooms with the corpse of a Confederate soldier inside. She later discovered she had possibly seen the body of one of Governor Patton's sons whose funeral was conducted in the house. Local paranormal investigators have investigated the property and Sweetwater Mansion was featured in an episode of A&E's Paranormal State on April 25, 2011.