Around North Florida

Listed on the National Register of Historic Homes, Pebble Hill Plantation is a historical home and sporting plantation. The original house was built in 1827; Pebble Hill served as a cotton plantation and was later used as a winter home and hunting lodge. Pebble Hill houses an extensive art collection of wildlife and environmental themes. Its guests have included sports painters Ogden Pleissner and Richard Bishop, presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Jimmy Carter, several ambassadors, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The extensive grounds are lined with pines, magnolias, and elaborate gardens. In 2004, the State of Georgia Travel Guide chose Pebble Hill Plantation as the featured site for their international publication.

Pebble Hill Plantation originally belonged to Thomas Jefferson Johnson, the founder of Thomasville and the author of the bill that created Thomas County. Julia Ann, his daughter, married a local planter, John W.H. Mitchell, and inherited the plantation following the Civil War. The Mitchells expanded cotton planting operations and, in 1850, they replaced the original Johnson homes with one designed by English architect John Wind. In 1896, after Julia Ann's death, the property was sold to Howard Melville Hanna, an Ohio industrialist, who purchased the property for seasonal enjoyment and for quail hunting in the area. His daughter, Kate, and her husband Perry Williams Harvey, subsequently inherited the property. During their ownership, Abram Garfield, son of President Garfield, built gatehouses, a country store, and a jersey barn on the property. In the winter of 1934, a fire consumed all of the structures except the East wing; however, most of the original furnishings were saved. The East wing, undamaged by the fire, was incorporated into the new structure that was completed in 1936. When Kate died, her children, Robert and Pansy, divided the property. Pansy continued to preserve her share of the property and plantation.

Pansy transformed several of the rooms into galleries, to showcase the collections including 19th century furniture, porcelain, silver, crystal, glassware, and several trophies and memorabilia that demonstrate and showcase the success of Pebble Hill's animals in competition. Pansy was a lover of animals, especially dogs and horses, as well as nature, which is evident in the artwork and decorations throughout the house.

The 2,900 acre property includes: Pebble Hill Plantation, the Visitor Center, Cow barn, Stables, Carriage houses, Kennels(which once held hundreds of dogs of various breeds), Nurse's Office(held the Pebble Hill Visiting Nurses Association, which provided the plantation and local tenant farmers with medical care by trained nurses), Fire Engine House, Carpenter's Shop, Dog Hospital (where household pets were treated), The Waldorf (the staff dining room and laundry), Kitchen Garden(which housed guests when the Main House was full), Log Cabin School(where Pansy and Livingston were tutored when the family was there in winter), the extensive Gardens in front of the main house with dogwoods, azaleas, and camellias, Main House Garage (with several of the owner's automobiles), the old Tennis Court (which now houses several special events), Historic Cemetery where many of the family members that had lived at Pebble Hill for the past one hundred and fifty years are buried, Plantation Store(which served as a country store and is now where their gift shop is located), and Noah's Ark (which was built as a bath house for one of the other Poe properties and now houses Clinton Shepherd paintings of the animals of the Ark).