Other side view of old post office.
Sign shows that the restored Yellow River Post Office near Lilburn was built around 1840. The park is open to the public seven days a week during daylight hours. (Gwinnett Citizen Photos by Lanie Lessard-Cox)The five-acre passive park not only includes the original post office and farmhouse, but it also features a barn and wash house (circa 20th Century), well, ravine overlook, picnic area, restrooms, and 0.3-mile non-paved walking trail. Visitors can tour the farmstead grounds on a short loop. Limited parking is available.
The two-story farmhouse was moved from across the street to the post office site in 2021 and restored on the property. The house was built around 1879 by Thomas Hudson, Sr. in the architectural style of Plantation Plain, utilizing mortise and tenon construction techniques. According to the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center, these structures are examples of vernacular architecture, traditional techniques passed down through the generations.
Front view of Nash-Hudson Home, built circa 1879, which was moved from across the street and restored for placement in the park.
Nash-Hudson Home with Out Building.
Closeup of Out Building.
Back of Hudson-Nash House with Well (complete with Waterbox).
Inside the home with brochure table.
Front door to home.Hudson, a former resident of South Carolina, purchased a 562-acre plantation along the Yellow River in 1839, establishing a general store and post office, which served as the central point of farming and business in southern Gwinnett County. It was a communication center for southern Gwinnett, as residents came for supplies from as far as Grayson and Snellville. The first postmaster, Hudson also served as a county surveyor and as an elected state representative for three terms.
During his time in the Georgia State Legislature, Hudson served as a delegate to the convention in Milledgeville, which adopted the Ordinance of Secession in 1861 that led to the American Civil War.
He also was one of three men appointed to lay out the road now known as Five Forks Trickum, which runs from the DeKalb County line to Lawrenceville.
Original cow/horse barn is shown toward the back of the park.
In 1876, the property was sold to Lewis Nash following the Civil War and Reconstruction. Nash, who became postmaster from 1866-67, also was elected state representative for Gwinnett County in the General Assembly from 1868-70.
Nash’s cousin, William Thomas Nash, bought the property in 1880, where it remained in the family until 1996. The Nash family helped organize the nearby Yellow River Baptist Church.
Walking trails are available at the Yellow River Post Office site.Living on the property with his wife and eight children, William built a one-story frame farmhouse, barn, and blacksmith shop. Tending to animals around the barn, egg gathering, and tool repair were the family’s activities.
As the children grew older, the land was subdivided to them, as they built their own houses on the property, a typical pattern of farm life in the area.
“The Hudson-Nash property is significant as a mid-nineteenth century farm and commercial property,” according to the National Register of Historic Places.
Photo shows expanse of park located at 3519 Five Forks Trickum Road.
For more information, call 770-904-3500 or visit gwinnettparks.com.
