More than 100 years before Kregg Lumpkin made a name for himself in Georgia football, Gov. Wilson Lumpkin left his mark on the University – not in Sanford Stadium, but on South Campus.

Students trying to navigate the area around Connor Hall may be familiar with Lumpkin’s legacy. His two-story antebellum house sits as an historic anomaly among the other, more modern buildings of Science Row.

The house, which stands in a prime campus location, has had varied uses over the years, but it is too small to have any significant or lasting purpose, said Nash Boney, a retired history professor and author of “A Pictorial History of the University of Georgia.”

“In a practical sense, it’s not a whole lot of use,” Boney said.

But the University won’t tear down the Lumpkin House – that is, unless it wants to forfeit its claim to acres of land.

In 1907, the Lumpkin family deeded the house and surrounding area to the University – with a catch. The family stipulated if the University destroyed or moved the house, it would have to surrender all of the land to the Lumpkin clan.

Boney said the clause is obscure and would probably not be upheld if the house were removed, but he didn’t think the University would bulldoze the home.

“It’s one of the few things on the South Campus that goes back to the 19th century,” Boney said.

Lumpkin, who built the house in 1844, served as governor of Georgia in the 1830s. He is most remembered for his role in the forced removal of the Cherokee Native American tribe from the state.

“Lumpkin included [the Cherokee removal] among his proudest achievements,” said Claudio Saunt, associate director of the Institute of Native American Studies at the University.

Fueled by the discovery of gold on Cherokee lands and the desire for Georgia citizens to possess the land, the state divvied up the Cherokee territory in a lottery – even while the native people still lived in the area, Saunt said. The state then forced the Cherokee into the West. The incident became known as the “Trail of Tears,” because of the deaths resulting from the harsh journey out of Georgia.

“He saw it as the signature piece of his term as governor,” said Jace Weaver, director of the INAS. “He had grown up in a rural area at a time when people lived in constant fear of Indians, and he came to believe that whites and Indians could not live together.”

In his account of the Cherokee removal, Lumpkin explained his actions.

“I was laboring in the cause of humanity,” Lumpkin wrote in his memoir, “The Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia.” “And to promote the best interests of the Indian, as well as the white race.”

Boney also said the house should not be devalued because of Lumpkin’s role in the “Trail of Tears.”

“I’m not hugely proud of [the Cherokee removal],” Boney said. “But so much of history is an appalling record of brutality and bloodshed. [Criticizing the Lumpkin House] would be like not honoring a building because its owners were slave holders.”

Despite his record with the Cherokee, Lumpkin left positive legacies in the state. He was instrumental in bringing the Western and Atlantic Railroad to Georgia.

“That railroad was a real boon to Georgia,” Boney said.

Lumpkin was also a trustee at the University and was vocal in his support of expanding the institution.

In the governor’s own words, “I consider it doubtful whether our sons can anywhere, at this time, spend the short course of four years’ college instruction to greater advantage than at Franklin College.”