118-B North Erwin Street | Cartersville, Georgia

Only one original slave cabin remains on the property of what is believed to be the first home built in Cartersville. This simple one-room, wood-framed structure can be seen from Erwin Street and is located to the rear of the main house.

This cabin, as well as the main house, was in danger of collapse in 2018 when the property was bought and rehabilitated by its current owner. Originally, the main house was owned by Elijah Murphy Field and Cornelia Maxey Harrison Field and was considered the family’s “townhome” property. They also owned a large plantation on Pumpkinvine Creek, along with numerous enslaved people.

During the Civil War, the house was commandeered for use as a post office and Union headquarters by General Benjamin Harrison of Indiana, who served in Sherman’s Campaign through Georgia. Mrs. Fields, a cousin of General Harrison’s, was furious, refusing to ever again welcome the General inside her home. Harrison later became the 23rd President of the United States and advocated strongly for voting rights for freedmen. The cousins split bitterly over the issue of slavery, as did the nation.

Nevertheless, post-Civil War society changed as formerly enslaved African Americans joined the economic landscape. By 1880, when this cabin came to by occupied by Mrs. Vinnie Salter Johnson, the Field family no longer enslaved African Americans, but provided a paid wage for their labor.

Vinnie Salter Johnson
Born in September, 1855, in Early County, Georgia, to slaves Berry and Rachel Salter, Vinnie grew up with 5 brothers and 2 sisters, married, had a family, and relocated to Cartersville. Between 1880 and 1900, she worked as a paid cook in the Fields’ home and lived in the cabin with her son Cafaries Johnson. By 1910, she had earned enough money to rent her own home and live independently on nearby Bartow Street. Though her life was challenging, her legacy includes successful doctors and entrepreneurs among her descendants.