The architecture of the Longstreet-Newton home, Reynolds said, is not particularly historic compared to some of the other houses on Green Street. “But as far as the historical value of that house and what happened in it,” he said, “it probably exceeds all the others.”
A historical survey by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources estimates the house’s construction to 1910, but Richard Pilcher said Longstreet lived in the house for several years before his death in 1904.
“He lived in that house,” said Pilcher, manager of the Piedmont Hotel, which was owned by Longstreet and now serves as the headquarters for the Longstreet Society.
The house was owned by Longstreet’s second, much younger wife, Helen Dortch, who he married in early September 1897. He was 76 and she was 34. Pilcher said she inherited the house from her father after he died in 1891 and the 1910 date might refer to when a second story was built. More recent historical records reference the second story being built after 1916.
Reynolds said there are two main reasons the Longsteet-Newton home eclipses its neighbors in the annals of Green Street’s history. First and foremost, it is the birthplace of St. Michael Catholic Church in Gainesville.
“The Catholic church was founded in the basement of that house,” Reynolds said.
After being shunned from the Episcopalian church and branded a “scalawag” for supporting Reconstruction, Longstreet converted to Catholicism in March 1877. His wife Helen was a devout Catholic.
Longstreet held Catholic church services in her basement, where two fireplaces were built to resemble an altar, according to historical records with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. The basement was used for a number of years before a Catholic church was built.
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History of Longstreet, Catholicism and Tallulah Gorge wrapped up in this Green Street home - Gainesville Times
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