About the Presenter
Philip Mills Herrington is an Associate Professor of History at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, where he teaches United States history, historic preservation, and architectural history.
His current book project, The Plantation Revival, co-authored with Dr. Lydia Mattice Brandt of the University of South Carolina, examines the origins and evolution of one of the most enduring images in American architecture: the white-columned plantation house. Across the United States, thousands of buildings—from suburban ranches and governors’ mansions to fraternity houses and country clubhouses—nod to the myth of the Old South.
Through close attention to design intention, use, and public perception, this project identifies what makes some buildings “southern plantations” in a country filled with white columns. As the first book on the history and meaning of the image of the white-columned plantation house, it joins a growing body of scholarly and popular literature that interrogates the legacy of the plantation in American architecture, tourism, and national mythmaking.