THOMASVILLE — A giant piece of Thomas County history has been sold but will remain intact historically.

The Greenwood Plantation ante-bellum main house, a lodge, stables, garage and eight staff houses and cottages on a 235-acre tract were sold to Westchester South Investments, LLC, for just under $1.3 million.

The property was sold by Jon Kohler & Associates, a Madison, Florida, real estate firm, said Erica Hanway, owner of Plantation Marketing Group, a sister company to the Kohler firm.

“We’ve been marketing Greenwood for about three and a half years,” Hanway said Thursday.

The property was owned by the Greentree Foundation in New York.

“We’ve had high expectations for the buyer to be preservation- and conservation-minded,” Hanway explained. “We’re really pleased with the outcome and the patience of the Greenwood Foundation to get this done right.”

Max Beverly, Thomasville’s mayor, is among the managers of the investment group that made the purchase. Beverly could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Said Kohler, “It’s very exciting for the City of Thomasville and the people of Red Hills. … We feel great about it. The buyer understands the architectural significance of the Greenwood campus.”

In February, a foundation created by Paddy Vanderbilt Wade purchased the balance of the 4,000-plus acres of Greenwood Plantation, which included the rare 1,200-acre “Big Woods,” the largest privately held tract of virgin old-growth longleaf pine left in America. Wade has implemented plans to conserve this property.

Greenwood was established by Thomas and Lavinia Jones in 1827.

The last time it sold was in 1899, when Col. Oliver Payne purchased it. John Hay “Jock” Whitney inherited Greenwood from his father, Payne Whitney.

Greenwood was put in Greentree Foundation’s name in 1998, after the death of Betsey Whitney.

The Whitneys used the plantation as a winter retreat and as a quail-hunting plantation. Whitney, among the financiers of Gone with the Wind, sought to advance Southern agriculture through the development of hybrid seed corn and forestry techniques at Greenwood.

In addition to the main house, other aspects of the purchase include architecturally beautiful winter stables, the garage, the lodge, Whitney’s office, Dixie 18/hybrid seed corn agricultural buildings, eight additional houses, barns, a live oak alley and grand iron gates designed by Stanford White circa 1904.

The main house, built by noted British architect John Wind, was completed after nine years in 1844. Wind built some of the most monumental plantation houses, and only a few survive today.

The property is on the National Register of Historic Places. During Col. Oliver Payne’s era, famed New York architect Stanford White, declared Greenwood as “the most perfect example of Greek Revival architecture in America.”

Two wings were added on either side of the house. Over the years, modern modifications, such as kitchen and bathing facilities, were added to the original four-over-four layout, never altering the front elevation.

On the evening of April 2, 1993, following a just-completed interior design project by Sister Parish, Greenwood caught fire. Mrs. Whitney completely restored the exterior in 1997, and stabilized the interior, which remains charred from the fire — a blank slate for new owners.

Jacqueline Kennedy found a peaceful refuge at Greenwood after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower hunted quail at Greenwood.

Babe Ruth, Admiral Bull Halsey, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Fred Astaire also were guests at Greenwood.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820.