Orna Villa in Oxford, Georgia, is one of our Newton County Homegrown Trilogies. The oldest home in Newton County is full of history, hauntings, Hollywood, and much more. Our other trilogies have focused on the haunting and Hollywood of Orna Villa, however, one of our favorite things about the historic home is the history.
To start, Newton County is the oldest home in all of Newton County. It was built back in 1825 and has Greek revival style architecture. It was built by Richard K. Dearling, and is located off of Emory Street. Besides being called Orna Villa, it is also named the Alexander Means house or the Means/Tanner house. These names come from previous owners of the home.
Alexander Means was the founder and president of Oxford College. If you don’t recognize the name, don’t worry. The College now goes by Oxford College of Emory University, which you might recognize more.
Just like the college, the house was used as a hospital for confederate soldiers during the Civil War in Newton County. Orna Villa has a bullet hole above the upstairs banister to prove its Civil War roots.
As you can see, Orna Villa has a deep-rooted history in Newton County Georgia. Its owners and its existence helped shaped the history of Newton County. The expansive history also led to its haunting and Hollywood aspects. That’s why we love to call Orna Villa part of our home; it has a little bit of everything in it.
