The Pink Palace

     Another weekend photo shoot in Tate, Georgia, included a visit to the Pink Palace. A home built in the 1920s by the son of the man who discovered marble on his property and founded what is now Georgia Marble Company. In the land lottery during the days the Cherokee were moved out of Georgia, Samuel Tate bought plot #147 along the Old Federal Highway. Sam Tate soon found that the property had the Harnage Tavern and outbuildings, but also the remains of a long-vacated Cherokee village behind the tavern, which was destroyed in 1782.
     One of Sam Tate's son, Stephen, headed west when gold fever struck. But by 1854 Stephen had returned home. He and his wife raised 19 children on the Tate property. Marble quarrying was a booming business in the area but it was all done independently. Stephen Tate died before he could finish his task of trying to organize the independent miners. Stephens son, Samuel (known as Colonel Sam), complete the task his father set out to do and created the Georgia Marble Company.

    
     In 1923, one of Sam's quarries ran into a unique vein of pink marble. The Colonel decided to use the pink marble for the home he was building.  Sometimes called the "Pink Palace", this is the mansion that is know as the Tate House. It took Sam 12 years to build the house and the pink marble was used both inside as well as outside.