
The antebellum Okfuskee House has silently witnessed life in Tallapoosa County from Alabama’s secession through Reconstruction, both World Wars and now in the twenty-first century. Finished in 1859 by the Rylance family, over the years the house has been home to city mayor Bozeman Rylance and state legislator JB Rylance. A Rylance/Bulger wedding later brought the house into the Thomas Bulger family. It was acquired in the 1960s by county sheriff Woodrow Barnes and his wife Melba who both served as probate Judge and chair of the County Commission. Many in the community offer stories of happy times during the Barnes’ time in the house. Artifacts in the home are reminiscent of the 1861 Tallapoosa County courthouse while the Wm.Knabe&Co. square grand piano purchased by the Rylance/Bulger families remains prominent. Acquired in 2001 by the Campbell family, it is now named Okfuskee House for the Muscogee tribal trading town that occupied the shore of the Tallapoosa River near Sandy Creek. Okfuskee means “sharp waters” thought to refer to the extensive rocky shoals in our area’s creeks and the river.




