STAFF REPORT :::
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation released today its 2020 list of 10 Places in Peril in the state.
“This is the Trust’s fifteenth annual Places in Peril list,” said Mark C. McDonald, president and CEO of the Trust. “We hope the list will continue to bring preservation solutions to Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting ten representative sites.”
Heritage Park is a community space that reflects the efforts to provide education to African Americans in the South during the twentieth century. The park includes a Rosenwald School — built in 1929 using funds from the collaborative efforts of Booker T. Washington and Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck and Company — an equalization school, gymnasium and community garden. In recent years, the park and the properties have been subject to neglect, vandalism, and lack of maintenance. Allocated SPLOST funds have proven to be inadequate for a full restoration of the site although community support for the project remains strong.
Places in Peril is designed to raise awareness about Georgia’s significant historic, archaeological and cultural resources, including buildings, structures, districts, archaeological sites and cultural landscapes that are threatened by demolition, neglect, lack of maintenance, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy.
Through Places in Peril, the Trust will encourage owners and individuals, organizations and communities to employ proven preservation tools, financial resources and partnerships in order to reuse, reinvest and revitalize historic properties that are in peril.
Sites on the 2020 list include Antioch Baptist Church in Crawfordville (Taliaferro County); Asbury United Methodist Church in Savannah (Chatham County); Cary Reynolds Elementary School in Doraville (DeKalb County); Central State Hospital in Milledgeville (Baldwin County); Fountain (Stone) Hall in Atlanta (Fulton County); Heritage Park in Griffin (Spalding County); John Nelson Deming Home in Valdosta (Lowndes County); Masonic Lodge #238 in Dalton (Whitfield County); Nolan Crossroads in Bostwick (Morgan County); and Rose Hill School in Porterdale (Newton County).
Sites on previous years’ lists include: Zion Church (Talbotton), an 1848 Tudor-Gothic style church that suffered from lack of maintenance and funding, was recently awarded $100,000 for restoration work from the Historic Columbus Foundation; the Foster-Thomason-Miller House (Madison), a fire-damaged architecturally significant house, was sold to a preservation-minded buyer through the Madison-Morgan Conservancy’s newly established revolving fund; the Lyon Homestead (Stonecrest), one of the oldest houses in DeKalb County, was stabilized by Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance with funding from DeKalb County; Underground Savannah, the city’s collection of endangered archaeological sites, is one step closer to being protected as the local government moves forward with establishing an archaeology ordinance; and Furber Cottage (Atlanta), a former dorm built in 1899 in the Atlanta University Center Historic District, was destroyed by fire in 2019.
Founded in 1973, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation works for the preservation and revitalization of Georgia’s diverse historic resources and advocates their appreciation, protection and use. As one of the country’s leading statewide, nonprofit preservation organizations, the Trust generates community revitalization by finding buyers for endangered properties acquired by its Revolving Fund and raises awareness of other endangered historic resources through an annual listing of Georgia’s “Places in Peril.”
The Trust offers a variety of educational programs for adults and children, provides technical assistance to property owners and historic communities, advocates for funding, tax incentives and other laws aiding preservation efforts, and manages two house museums in Atlanta (Rhodes Hall) and Macon (Hay House).
