Edward Telfair emigrated from Scotland in 1758 to Virginia before settling in the Province of Georgia. He and his brother William became wealthy operating a plantation and mercantile company. His grandson, Alexander Telfair, asked architect William Jay to build this magnificent mansion. It was finished in 1819. Before the last of his daughters died in 1874, Mary Telfair willed the family home to the Georgia Historical Society with the stipulation it become the Telfair Academy of Arts & Sciences. The former Telfair Academy is now an art museum, the oldest in the Southern United States.
