
The Mitchell House is the oldest home still standing in Tallapoosa County and is famous because SZ Mitchell was born there and he and his brother were the founders of what would become Alabama Power. But what really makes him famous is that he was the inventor of the electrical grid, Edison invented the lightbulb but Mitchell invented and made all the millions of dollars from the electrical grid! The electrical grid means that you do not have to be next to the power source and he sold all of this information / invention to every utility around the world, becoming the richest man in the entire world prior to the Great Depression! He then went on to be the president of GE for 47 years and became best friends with Edison and he and Edison invented hydroelectric power, and Lake Martin was the first one. Lake Martin was the largest hydroelectric dam until Hoover dam came along. All the Alabama Power lakes except for Martin are named after Mitchell’s family such as Jordan, Lay and Mitchell Lakes. The ginkgo tree in the front yard is 108 years old and it is one of the oldest male ginkgo tree in the United States. It turns a stunning gold color at the end of November - first of December for about two weeks. Another little piece of history about The Mitchell House is that it was one of the first to have a cantilever porch, which means there is nothing underneath the porch in the front to hold it up the beams go through the house. All the wood for The Mitchell House was milled off the land around the house.
