Venue Spotlight: Cloverleaf Farm

Drumroll please….allow us to introduce Cloverleaf Farm, the newest addition to the collection of venues by our sister company Magic Moments. Cloverleaf Farm is an exquisite manor house and special event venue set amidst a 30-acre farm just outside of Athens in Arnoldsville, Georgia.

Although built in 1859 with all the expected character of an older home, the unexpected furnishings give it a fresh twist. This, combined with its incredible surroundings (including horse barn, pastures, pecan grove, tree-lined lanes, vineyard, flower borders and formal, brick-enclosed courtyard garden) creates an event location unrivaled in beauty.

Built by Mordicai Edwards as a gift to his young bride Martha who desired the grandest house in the county, Cloverleaf Farm with its Ballroom and upstairs guest quarters welcomed all. Once reserved for traveling guests, the upstairs area and private veranda with a sweeping view of the farm now serve as a gracious suite for the Bride and her attendants. From the back portico leading into the home’s original Ballroom, the aged heart of pine flooring glows from the mellow light cast by the whimsical Baroque wooden crystal chandeliers. Here guests receive their first clue that this historic property might not be as expected. Hallelujah!

In grand scale befitting the size of the rooms, the furnishings are an eclectic, fun mix inspired by furniture styles and designs from bygone eras. From the oversized gilded Corinthian entablature cocktail table in the front gathering room to the rustic, iron pulley lights suspended over either end of the bar (made of wood from a 350 year old oak), these singular pieces speak of a pride in workmanship echoing the skill set of generations past.

Across the front of this impressive façade, instead of the massive columns usually associated with antebellum homes, a series of slender, finely crafted cloverleaf columns lend a delicate, almost feminine quality that gives this stately country home a beguiling appearance. Unique to the Athens/Lexington area, these cloverleaf columns exist on but a few remaining homes---perhaps the best known, the Cobb-Treanor House in downtown Athens on Lumpkin Street. When seen in cross section, these columns present a cloverleaf pattern traditionally known as a quatrefoil. This ancient design motif consists of four equal lobes or leaves used as an ornamental design found in architecture, textiles, furniture and jewelry.

In Christianity, these leaves have been used to symbolize the four evangelists of the Bible, the Holy Trinity united with its church and even a variation of the Christian cross. In North American culture, it is believed to depict the ends of the earth---North, South, East and West---and as a Celtic symbol, “the wheel of being”. A medieval, knightly symbol steeped in mysticism, the cloverleaf is also the bearer of good luck, hope and joy.

Occurring naturally in nature, this curious shape can even be found in vegetables like cauliflower, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. In art and architecture, it is a decorative framework consisting of a symmetrical shape that forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. Look for touches of the cloverleaf motif throughout the 27-acre farm especially in the layout of the front fountain and the curvilinear lines of the garden inspired by this odd icon so chocked-full of meaning.

With this unique design feature in mind, the name Cloverleaf pays homage to the quatrefoil, acknowledges the land’s heritage as a horse farm and suggests a fresh, green outlook in attitude. The surrounding out buildings, horse barn, pastures, pecan grove, tree-lined lanes, vineyard, perennial flower borders and formal, brick-enclosed courtyard garden all framed by an endless white fence create multiple options for a Bride to express herself. Lucky, indeed, is the Bride that happens upon Cloverleaf Farm.