Renowned silhouette artist Clay Rice will visit the William Root House in downtown Marietta on December 5, 2024. Based in Charleston, South Carolina, Clay travels nationwide creating unique silhouette portraits, a craft featured in publications like Country Living and Southern Living.

Silhouettes, popular in the 1700s and early 1800s, are cherished today for their charm and artistic quality. Clay, with a career spanning 40 years, has cut over a million profiles, each taking about one minute to complete.

Space for sittings is limited and must be booked online in advance. The total cost is $52, with a $10 deposit due at booking and $42 payable at the sitting. Additional copies are available for $10 each. Visit CobbLandmarks.com to reserve a spot.

About the William Root House

The William Root House was built in about 1845, and was the home of William Root and his wife Hannah.

William Root was a druggist who was born in Philadelphia. He moved to Marietta in 1839 to open a drug and general store. He married Hannah Simpson a year later, and they built the house at what is now Church and Lemon streets.

It was later moved to face Lemon Street, and was owned by William Root until 1886.

Afterward it had a series of owners and went into steady decline, and in the 1940s was split into apartments.

By the 1980s, the house was in serious disrepair and scheduled for demolition.

A preservation effort began, and in 1989 Cobb Landmarks & Historical Society bought the house and moved it to its current location at 80 North Marietta Pkwy NW, Marietta, GA 30060.

According to promotional materials for the museum, “While the home and grounds have been meticulously restored to their 1860 appearance, interactive electronic displays have been added to tell the story of the Root family and their enslaved house servants.”