Thornhill (Forkland, Alabama)
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Thornhill
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The front elevation of the main house in 2010
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| Nearest city | Forkland, Alabama |
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| Coordinates | 32°41′18″N 87°55′45″W / 32.68833°N 87.92917°WCoordinates: 32°41′18″N 87°55′45″W / 32.68833°N 87.92917°W |
| Built | 1833 |
| Architect | William Nichols |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference # | 84000618 |
| Added to NRHP | May 10, 1984 |
Thornhill is a historic plantation near Forkland, Alabama. The Greek Revival main house was built in 1833 by James Innes Thornton. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 10, 1984.
James Innes Thornton was born October 28, 1800, at the Thornton family plantation known as Fall Hill, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He was educated at Washington and Lee University and then emigrated to Huntsville, Alabama. He began to practice law there in 1820. He was elected as Alabama's third secretary of state in 1824 and remained in that position until 1834. After this he retired from public life and became a planter in Greene County. Thornton married Mary Amelia Glover in 1825, daughter of Allen and Sarah Norwood Glover of Demopolis. They had two children. Her brother, Williamson Allen Glover, developed the neighboring plantation known as Rosemount. Mary died after only a few years. In 1831, Thornton remarried to Anne Amelia Smith of Dumfries, Virginia. Anne died in 1864. He then remarried in 1870 for a third and final time to Mrs. Sarah Williams Gould Gowdy, daughter of William Proctor and Eliza Chotard Gould of the Hill of Howth in Boligee. Thornton died at Thornhill on September 13, 1877.
Regarding the Thornton connection to George Washington, Mildred Washington Gregory, George Washington's paternal aunt and godmother, had three daughters who married three Thornton brothers. Mildred Gregory's daughter Frances (circ. 1720-1790)(first cousin of George Washington) married Col. Francis Thornton III (circ. 1711-1748) of Fall Hill. They were the great-grandparents of James Innes Thornton.
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