Aunt Fanny's Cabin To Be Demolished Unless Sold: City Council

SMYRNA, GA — Aunt Fanny's Cabin — which once served as the Smyrna Welcome Center, event venue and home for sharecroppers in the 1890s, but is most notably known as a famous restaurant that had a history of glorifying the "Old South" — will either be sold or demolished in the coming months.

Smyrna City Council members voted 4-2 Monday to accept the recommendations from the 20-member Future of Aunt Fanny's Cabin Task Force, which recommended demolishing the building unless the city finds someone to buy and move the cabin off city property.

Council Members Charles "Corky" Welch and Susan Wilkinson voted against the measure.

The city will keep the proposal process open until Feb. 1 to see if a private citizen or group would want to purchase and move the historic building. Unless the city receives any "acceptable proposals," Aunt Fanny's Cabin will be demolished.

The decision was made mostly due to the dilapidated state of the building, which was such a safety hazard that it was deemed "dangerous ... a menace to the public" and closed to visitors last year, Councilman Travis Lindley said Monday.

The city hasn't maintained it much since it bought and moved the remaining portions of the building in 1997 once the restaurant closed five years prior, Lindley said. Cost estimates to renovate the cabin were roughly $500,000 to $600,000, and rebuilding it would've cost around $400,000.

Demolition would not cost nearly as much, he said, though an asbestos and mold abatement would need to be done first.

But regardless of the outcome come Feb. 1, several council members said the city plans to build a memorial for Fanny Williams, whom the cabin is named after.

"One very important piece is that there was universal agreement that a memorial — a proper memorial — be instituted for Ms. Fanny Williams and her contributions to the community. Not only Smyrna, but the county and, indeed, the region," Lindley said. "I have to say, for my part, that is probably the most important takeaway. Regardless of what happens to the cabin, we've got to get that right."

The cabin was named after Fanny Williams, a longtime servant of some of Smyrna's first settlers: the Campbell family, for whom Campbell Road and Campbell Elementary School are named, Mike Terry, a former chair of the Cobb Planning Commission and unofficial city historian previously told the Marietta Daily Journal.

Williams was a beloved figure in metro Atlanta, and was even considered an early civil rights advocate who spoke out against Cobb County's Ku Klux Klan and helped raise money for the state's first all-Black hospital in Marietta, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. But she was reduced to a mascot of sorts for the cabin, which had an Old South aesthetic that many other restaurants adopted.

Related:

• Aunt Fanny's Cabin Could Be Repaired, Demolished Or Preserved
• Fate Of Aunt Fanny's Cabin To Be Decided By City Council Monday

When heading inside even now, there are still reminders of the slavery period in American and Georgian history. Lindley previously said he came across a placemat which depicted children in blackface advertising Aunt Fanny's Cabin's hot biscuits, charbroiled steaks and other menu items.

"This building and this restaurant used what's essentially a caricature of Fanny Williams for marketing for their restaurant. Fanny Williams was an incredible woman and did a lot of great things for the community, for the city, for the area and we should honor that," Councilman Austin Wagner said Monday. "We're talking about ... spending this amount of money on this building that really represents some of the worst things when it comes to race, some of the worst tactics and things that are used to talk about race. If we're going to spend the money, we should be talking about raising funds to tell her true story. We don't need to do that with this building."

But not all council members agreed. Welch said the city has previously spent millions on renovating the historic Reed House, Taylor-Brawner House and Brawner Hall — so why not Aunt Fanny's Cabin?

He also said that while the restaurant does have a shameful history, many Smyrna residents have had positive memories visiting the cabin and there are still lessons to be learned by leaving it up as a reminder of the past.

Wilkinson said she wanted council to have more time to make a decision, and that council members have received emails with ideas from the community on how to honor Williams even with the same building that she felt should be discussed before voting.

"I don't necessarily agree that the building is in good shape, because it is not. It's in horrible condition. I don't disagree with the cost estimate that's on the facility. But I do believe that it's worth saving for the city to have that historic site," Welch said. "I want to be able to save the building ... I think there are lessons to be learned there. I think this building is a symbol of what was there, and what we don't want to happen again."

But ultimately, the cabin's past still contributed to the task force's — and council's — decision to demolish the building unless someone buys it and moves it from city-owned land.

"The history of Aunt Fanny's Cabin is rooted in racism and exploitation of minorities for financial gain, even Fanny Williams, who never even had financial stake in this restaurant, and she passed away long before most Smyrnans visited it," Councilman Glenn Pickens said. "This council has been clear on our stance towards racism and discrimination, and moving forward we cannot separate this building from its racist past. Fanny Williams deserves to be celebrated ... celebrated for her historic accomplishments in advancing civil rights, and this building does not do that."