Designed by Enoch William Brown and built during a cotton boom in the mid-1880s, the Augusta Cotton Exchange is one of the most beautiful buildings in the downtown historic district. After restoration in 1988, it served as a welcome center for the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau and is now a branch of the Georgia Bank & Trust.
National Register of Historic Places
Meadow Garden was the last home of George Walton, one of the youngest signers of the Declaration of Independence. Walton served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, a Colonel in the First Georgia Militia, Governor of Georgia (1779-80 & 1789-90), U. S. Congressman, Chief Justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, and United States Senator.
Thanks to the efforts of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who still maintain the site today this important vestige of our early history was saved from demolition in 1901. It is Georgia’s oldest house museum and one of the top attractions in Augusta.
National Historic Landmark
The central section of this structure housed the old Richmond County Courthouse, making this the oldest standing courthouse in Georgia. (The oldest in its original form in the 1825 Fayette County Courthouse). Sold in 1821 to mayor Samuel Hale, the building was expanded for use as a residence. The family of Dr. Eugene Murphy were the last private owners, selling it to the Augusta Junior League in the 1952. It is depicted on both the Augusta city seal and flag. A gingko on the property is thought to have been planted on the lot in 1791 to commemorate George Washington’s visit to the city.
National Register of Historic Places
Adjacent to the Old Government House are several raised 19th-century cottages (possibly antebellum). They were moved here to be saved from destruction in the mid-1970s as a pilot program of Historic Augusta, Inc.
These wonderfully restored cottages now house law offices.
Augusta Downtown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Upon coming to Augusta from Albany, New York, Frederick Adolphus Brahe built this Sand Hills Cottage in the Greek Revival style in 1850. Brahe was an accomplished silversmith and the Official Tender of the City Clock. His family’s business, Brahe Jewelers, remained open until the early 20th century.
National Register of Historic Places
Perhaps the most famous house in Augusta, the Nicholas Ware House was given its pejorative nickname for its excessive construction costs. Ware was an early Augusta mayor and United States Senator. The structure is now home to the Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art.
National Register of Historic Places
Augusta Downtown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The Medical College of Georgia is the third oldest medical school in the South. Irish-born architect Charles Cluskey designed the building, which has been called one of the best examples of Greek Revival in Georgia.
National Register of Historic Places
Aaron H. Jones built this house, which was soon sold to the Presbyterian Church for use as the manse. The Reverend Dr. Joseph Ruggles Wilson and his family were the first occupants of the house. One of his children was Thomas Woodrow Wilson, who would go on to become the 28th President of the United States. Wilson remembered his time in Augusta fondly. The house is now owned and operated as a museum by Historic Augusta, Inc. Unfortunately, like the adjacent Lamar House, the Wilson House is dominated by an unattractive modern highrise. That’s a fact apparently not lost on Historic Augusta, as the highrise has been cloned out of their image of the house. It would be nice for Augusta to look into removing the offending structure at some point in the future.
National Register of Historic Places
William H. Salisbury built this house just before the outbreak of the Civil War. Soon thereafter, Emily Tubman purchased the house for use as the manse of the First Christian Church, when James Sanford Lamar was serving as its pastor. Lamar’s son, Joseph Rucker Lamar, lived in this house until he was 18. He would go on to codify the laws of Georgia, serve as a state supreme court justice, and eventually was appointed by President William Howard Taft to the United States Supreme Court. He and Woodrow Wilson were neighbors and childhood friends on this street during the Civil War years and thereafter.
National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 