Est. 1882 · Built 1882 by Rev. David P. Bass, second president of Crown Cotton Mill · One of Dalton's surviving Victorian-era residential mansions · Georgia Ghost Society investigation documented in 2007 · Now operates as the Carter Hope Center
The house at 506 Hawthorne Street was built in 1882 by the Reverend David P. Bass, who served as the second president of Crown Cotton Mill, one of the enterprises central to Dalton's late-nineteenth-century industrial growth. Bass had the home constructed as a wedding gift, a custom common among Dalton's industrialist class, and its architectural character reflects the prosperity of that era — a Victorian-era design suited to a senior business figure's household.
The home takes the name Thomas A. Berry from a subsequent owner who held the property during a significant period in Dalton's history. By the time the Sunday Edition covered Dalton's Victorian-era haunted homes in 2020, the structure was one of a handful of the town's older residential properties still standing in recognizable form.
The property is now operated as the Carter Hope Center, which provides social services in the Dalton area. Its current use means interior access for tourism or historical exploration is not available through a standard visitor channel; the building's paranormal profile comes primarily through its inclusion in Dalton Ghost Tours coverage and the 2007 Georgia Ghost Society investigation.
The Dalton Ghost Tours blog documented the Georgia Ghost Society's 2007 investigation, which received reports from residents and associates of unexplainable sounds, apparitions, and a persistent sense of being watched by an unseen presence within the building.
Sources
- https://daltonghosttours.wordpress.com/
- https://sundayedition.fetchyournews.com/2020/10/18/59380-haunted-dalton-rich-in-history-and-the-unexplained/
Unexplained sounds in unoccupied roomsApparition reportsPersistent sensation of being watched by unseen presence
Reports compiled by the Dalton Ghost Tours blog indicate that the Georgia Ghost Society conducted an investigation of the property in 2007 after receiving accounts from people associated with the building who described unexplainable sounds — movement and voices in unoccupied rooms — as well as apparent apparitions and a persistent sensation of being watched or accompanied when alone in the building.
The 'unseen presence' theme is the most consistent element across accounts of the house. Witnesses describe not necessarily seeing or hearing something definite, but feeling observed or accompanied in ways they found difficult to attribute to building sounds or atmospheric conditions.
The Sunday Edition's 2020 Haunted Dalton feature placed the Berry House among a handful of Victorian-era residential properties in the city with documented paranormal reputations, noting the relatively rare combination of confirmed historical ownership records and a formal investigative report. The 2007 date of the investigation aligns with a period of active Georgia Ghost Society fieldwork across the northwest Georgia region.