The house has 6 bedrooms (the two bedrooms on the first floor have since been converted to dining rooms) and accommodated the Baileys’ 11 children (six survived to adulthood), with children’s bedrooms upstairs and Mr. and Mrs. Bailey’s bedrooms on the first floor. Both first-floor bedrooms included unusually large closets, and Mrs. Bailey’s bedroom was connected to the upstairs through an early intercom tube system.

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Family Live During & After the Civil War

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When David Bailey left to serve in the Confederate Army, Mrs. Susan Bailey and their children remained in Griffin. Toward the end of the war, the Bailey-Tebault House is believed to have been used as a hospital, a role common among large homes near Camp Stevens, where Confederate troops trained. Etched names still visible in the windows of the Cheatham Parlor bear witness to this period. Several of the Bailey daughters would later marry officers who trained at the camp, linking the family closely with the Confederate cause.

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Following the war, the Baileys remained active in community life. They were instrumental in organizing St. George’s Episcopal Church, and in 1871 Mrs. Bailey donated its stained glass windows. In 1889, Griffin’s first commercial telephone call was made to Col. Bailey, who served as central office manager, underscoring the family’s prominent role in the city’s development. Like many wealthy Southern families of the time, however, the Baileys’ household and prosperity were built on the labor of enslaved people.

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Among those enslaved at the Bailey-Tebault House was Sophie (also recorded as Sophy or Sophia), one of the most enduring figures connected to the property. Born in Georgia in 1807, Sophie lived much of her life in bondage to the Bailey family. Census records from 1900 list her as Sophia “Bailey,” a widowed mother of twelve children, and note that her parents were an enslaved woman from Virginia and a man from Africa, linking her story directly to the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy in Georgia.

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Sophie lived in the largest of the Bailey-Tebault outbuildings, a duplex-style slave dwelling. Even after emancipation, she remained on the property in the cottage behind the main house. Letters and anecdotes suggest a lifelong bond between Sophie and Mrs. Bailey. Family stories recall Mrs. Bailey turning to her companion with the familiar phrase, “Aunt Sophie, take your dram,” as the two shared drinks together on the back porch.

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Sophie’s presence on the grounds until the late 1890s reflects both her importance within the Bailey household and the complexities of life for formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. She is believed to have died in Griffin between 1900 and 1910, leaving behind a legacy deeply intertwined with the history of the Bailey-Tebault House.

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Later Years and Ownership

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The house passed through the Bailey family after Mrs. Bailey's death, eventually inherited by Sallie Bailey Tebault, and later to her descendants. Around 1909, the house became Griffin’s first hospital and school for nurses, and by 1940 it was converted to the Frank S. Pittman Funeral Home. In 1971, James Rawls purchased the property, renaming it the Pittman-Rawls Funeral Home.

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The Griffin-Spalding Historical Society acquired the house on May 1, 1987. During renovations in 1989, the arch between the two main parlors was reshaped, paneling installed, and the original double doors restored in spirit.

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Preservation and Furnishings

Several original and family-related furnishings remain in the home. The large dining table in the Blakely Dining Room was donated back to the Society, and a sideboard in the Hightower Dining Room was returned after being purchased at a Bailey descendant estate sale. Together, these elements help preserve the history and legacy of the Bailey family and the home itself.