ALBANY — Gerald and JoAnn Lawhorn’s 1851 main house isn’t quite nestled among the lushness of its south Georgia habitat — the tall long-leaf pines, the wiregrass, the rows of pecan trees.
From Old Pretoria Road — a two-lane blacktop in Albany spotted mostly with ordinary homes, corn fields and a swath of nut trees — any passerby can catch a view of Cypress Pond Plantation’s 7,334-square-foot house.

Driving past the property, which sits perpendicularly to the road, one can see its grand white columns, a front porch so expansive that even its rocking chairs are uniquely big and the 3,000-square-foot addition that the Lawhorns oversaw.

But the details of the 1,777-acre plantation — the 100-acre natural Cypress Pond that looks unchanged since the Lower Creeks would have fished on it hundreds of years ago; the fertile grounds for hunting quail, dove, duck, turkey and whitetail deer; the dog kennels, sports park and five guest residences — can be best observed on a lazy stroll through the property.

Some would say that Cypress Pond Plantation, on the market for $21 million, isn’t a bad deal at all.

“It’s a premier time for selling these properties,” said Will Wingate, a senior associate with Orvis/Cushman & Wakefield, Ranch and Recreational Properties.

Most of the prospective buyers, Wingate explained, “will be successful businessmen or have families. They may want to add to their collection.”

People who buy properties such as Cypress Pond, Wingate continued, would fly into Albany on a aircraft worth more than the plantation and would likely make a cash purchase.

They’ll fly fish in Montana one season, he said, and shoot quail in Southwest Georgia, world capital of the gentlemen’s sport, the next.



In his trophy room — where two Alaskan brown bears Gerald Lawhorne shot are frozen in mid-motion and a wood carved, green-cloth snooker table once belonging to England’s King Edward VII makes its presence — Lawhorn lays back in his chair, unable to communicate but for a few grunts, the intent in his eyes and a computer-generated voice that announces his messages after he types them on his Erica keyboard.

“This is a great place to be with God’s wonderful creatures,” Gerald offers of the sprawling property. “It’s a historical environment for Georgia.”

The plantation was in part intended as a home base for family gatherings and sporting events with friends and business associates.

“That was one of the main reasons Gerald fell in love with the plantation,” said JoAnn, whom Gerald married in 1995. Their adult children were married at Cypress Pond. “We’ve had plenty of family reunions and birthday parties. It’s a place to come home to.”

Gerald oversaw the purchase of about $4 million in antiques that match the period of the home. Those include a smooth, natural-stone statue, furnishings, draperies, accessories and art. The trophy room is more 1890s.

But while Gerald can still appreciate his home’s history and the land’s character, there’s a significant part of 21st-century plantation life in which he can no longer partake.

In June 2005, the avid sportsman was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gherig’s disease, although Gerald prefers the term “ALS challenge.”

The illness attacks nerve cells and debilitates muscles, trapping its victim in his body as the abilities to walk, speak, eat and eventually, to breathe, fade.

What was once a playground for Gerald will one day help fund outdoor experiences for millions of young men: Profits from the plantation’s sale, Wingate said, will benefit the Boy Scouts of America, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to prepare the youth to make ethical and moral decisions.

“Aunt Gervaise, my den mother, introduced her eight Cub Scouts to God and Jesus,” Gerald communicates.

The plantation, Gerald writes, “is an investment for the Boy Scouts and God. ... We are maximizing our giving to God; he owns it anyway.”

“Jesus, family and Boy Scouts!” the computer says.

“That’s the order,” JoAnn chimes in.


In Southwest Georgia, heart of the 2nd Congressional district — the state’s poorest — there remain a handful of antebellum homes and plantations, most of them passed down through the generations.

Broker Wingate himself grew up in nearby Lax on Willowin Plantation, on the market for $9.5 million.

Near Cypress Pond is the Olin family’s Nilo Plantation and one owned by the Mellons, whose namesake institutions include Pennsylvania’s Carnegie Mellon University, among others.

In neighboring Terrell County, Leslie Wexner, founder of The Limited Brands, which today includes Victoria’s Secret, enjoys his plantation while Vice President **** Cheney is known to come down for game hunting.

But the Lawhorns’ situation is unique, said Wingate, because Gerald is a self-made millionaire who didn’t grow up in the type of environment he’s come to appreciate.

“Dirt road in Sylvester,” types Lawhorn by using his right-hand mouse to click on the letters glaring off his computer monitor.

Gerald, a graduate of Worth County High School, founded PetroSouth, a retail gasoline operation with more than 300 fuel centers. Gerald still owns the company, which holds the title to Cypress Pond. JoAnn is graduate of Pelham High School in Mitchell County.

After Cypress Pond gains new owners, the pair will retreat to the new home it’s building in Northwest Albany.

Although JoAnn admits that the new home “will be more downscaled” — “This would be hard to to,” she said — the Lawhorns’ place won’t be hard to find. It’ll be the one whose Ford van license plate proudly reads “Scouter.”

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