GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett family hopes historic Big House restoration honors complete legacy
Chad Livsey stands in front of the Maguire-Livsey Big House near Centerville and sees more than weathered wood and aging walls.
He sees four generations of family history.
“I see my childhood past in this place,” Livsey told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Matt Johnson. “So many memories of just so many different cousins all around just running around playing.”
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His great-grandparents Robert and Morena Livsey purchased the house and 110 acres in 1926 at a time when Black land ownership faced nearly impossible barriers. Robert Livsey worked on the railroad and saved enough to buy the property that had previously served as part of Thomas Maguire’s plantation known as The Promised Land.
The two-story house was built in the early 1830s.
During the Civil War era, 26 enslaved people lived and worked on the plantation that eventually grew to more than 1,200 acres.
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“I feel like our family story is the true American story because after slavery these two people were able to purchase this and raise generations of children that spread across the country,” Livsey said.
The Livsey family kept the property until 2017 when they sold the house to Gwinnett County for historic preservation.
In 2023, tensions flared when the county attempted to acquire additional family land.
The Livsey family says they fought off those efforts.
“This time around I’m hopeful,” Livsey said. “We had to fight off eminent domain three years ago.”
Now Gwinnett County is holding community meetings to gather input on how the Big House should be restored and interpreted.
“We want to engage the community to make sure that we tell that story correctly,” Chris Minor, director of Gwinnett Parks and Recreation told . “It should not be Gwinnett County leading that story.”
Within a few years, Livsey says he hopes to see the framework of a transformation of the house into a museum with nature trails connecting to the Yellow River and Norris Lake.
But more than preserving buildings, he wants the restoration to honor both the enslaved people who worked the land and the Black family who owned it for nearly a century.
“I feel like this place can be a lesson for all of us,” he said.
The county is hosting additional community meetings Monday and Tuesday and an open house at the Big House on November 8th.
More information can be found here.
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