Carr Farm
Wessyngton's Summer Home
Now, George was a skilled businessman and after inheriting the property from his father, began building up the farm and acquiring surrounding farmland, including Carr Farm in 1857 which was an 898 acre plantation. The Washington’s used this home as a summer residence to take advantage of the shaded valley and cool air coming off Miller’s Creek and Sulphur Fork Creek.
By 1860, George had built Wessyington to be the largest plantation in the state of Tennessee with 274 enslaved people cultivating 13,000 acres to produce a quarter of a million pounds of tobacco yearly. This made Wessyington the largest producer of tobacco in the world and george one of the wealthiest men in Tennessee. In today’s money, George A. Washington’s fortune was sitting at about 20 million dollars. The civil war did diminish his fortune, but George found ways to expand his wealth outside of farming. The Washington family maintained Wessyngton Plantation’s Main home and farm until the 1980s. However, “the old Carr Place” as many still know it today, changed hands a couple of times over the years. The home was in complete disrepair, until Mr. Andrew and Mrs Norma Jones purchased the property in 1955 and meticulously restored it on weekends while Andrew was in grad school. Mrs. Norma still calls The Carr House Home.