It’s not just the oldest building on campus. It’s one of only four to survive the burning by Union troops and the only one that represents the campus’ original design. 

Nestled amongst trees in front of Morgan Hall, the Gorgas House has been many things over its long history: a dining hall, a post office, a faculty residence and home to the family from which it gets its name. 

Today it’s a museum highlighting the life of Amelia Gayle Gorgas and is watched over by Lydia Joffray, the Museum Director of the Gorgas House.

“Amelia is fascinating to me – how much she dedicated to this school and this University,” Joffray said. “She was a very strong lady, went through a lot in her life, going through the Civil War with six very tiny children and having to assume the care of them for a long time and then coming here and pretty much assuming the care for all the student body. She was a very mother-like figure, very well loved.”

It’s with that same kind of love that Joffray now looks after the house. Originally from Georgia, Joffray has been the museum director of the Gorgas House for almost two years. She took the position, she said, because she found the history of the house and the Gorgas family fascinating.

She now spends her days taking care of the house and sharing that history with others by training student tour guides or giving tours herself to everyone from students, to parents, or even one time, to UA graduate and president of the White House Historical Association, Stewart McLaurin.

“He showed up for a tour, but he didn’t tell me until the end of the tour which was great because I think I would’ve been nervous otherwise,” she said.

Steven Sparks, a sophomore majoring in history and political science, is one of the house’s student tour guides. He only began working at the house recently but said Joffray and her love and knowledge of the Gorgas family had already made an impact on his life. Sparks has particularly been inspired by William Gorgas, who once was the Surgeon General of the United States Army.

“I never knew about William, I had never even heard of him, to be perfectly honest, until I started working here, and now I’m really interested in him,” he said. “I’m actually considering the army medical corps because of him so she may have even just changed my entire career from just working here.”

Sally Bell, a sophomore majoring in interior design, said her work with Joffray at the Gorgas House inspired her career path too.

“She really cares about the house and that makes it better to work here,” Bell said. “Working here led me to want to do historical preservation.”

Bell also remembers the day Joffray got married on the lawn of the Gorgas House. She recalled Joffray’s husband coming and asking about the house because she was so worried about it.

“I have developed a special love of the house,” Joffray said.  “So whenever I was here for my wedding and we were waiting, most of my nerves were focused on what was going on in the actual wedding but I was still worried about people and their shoes making marks on the floor and bringing in stuff because I didn’t want the house to get damaged.”

It rained that day, adding another layer of worry, but, in the end, it all worked out.

“It started raining maybe 30 minutes before the ceremony,” she said. “We were waiting at the gate and it was 3 o’clock, and it was still raining but my dad was going to carry an umbrella but I soon as I got out of the car it stopped.”

Joffray said her special love for the house makes her feel like a steward, not just of the house’s history, but of campus history as well. She hopes to one day put a permanent exhibit about the history of campus in the Gorgas House’s main hallway.

“I think we could do a better job about telling the history of the campus and so I hope that will be my legacy,” she said. “I would like it to be an inclusive history, to tell all the sides of the history of this house like the fact that it was built by slave labor, I think that’s very important to recognize that this house’s history tells so many more stories than just the story of the Gorgas family.”

But that story of the Gorgas family, particularly of Amelia is what inspires Joffray every day.

“I feel like it’s my duty to care for her legacy just like she felt like it was her duty to care for the students,” she said. “I try to live my life like she would.”