Built in the Georgian Cottage style by John Trowbridge for J. D. Roberts, this home later housed a doctor’s office, millinery shop, and the Burke County museum.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
The property of the Lone Star Benevolent Society in Waynesboro is a bit of a mystery. Previous surveys have identified the large structure (above) as the society hall, but it certainly resembles a church. It’s possible it served both purposes. Lone Star was one of many fraternal organizations aimed at creating a sense of community and a source of burial insurance for black communities from Emancipation well into the early 20th century.
This small building is located beside the larger church-like structure.
Further away from the main building is this structure, which was almost certainly a schoolhouse.
Dating to the colonial era, the First Presbyterian Church of Waynesboro was founded in 1760 with the establishment of a church on Briar Creek (Episcopalian) and another on Walnut Branch. The present church grew out of the union of these two churches in 1812. The present structure, the third to serve the congregation on this site, was dedicated in 1884.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This home is as difficult to photograph as its architectural style is to define. It is much more Eclectic than Victorian. Built for William Archibald Wilkins, who was a Confederate major and mayor of Waynesboro, it hosted President William Howard Taft during a visit to the city in 1910. It is also known as the Wilkins-Hagood House.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Known locally as Wisteria Hall for the design of a stained glass panel on the stairway landing featuring wisteria and two birds in flight, this magnificent Neoclassical Revival landmark was built for Waynesboro merchant Enon E. Chance. [The date of 1909 comes from the National Register of Historic Places nomination form; a sign in front of the house dates it to 1900. I’m not sure why there is a discrepancy, though this is a common issue with historic homes].
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This was a store in addition to being a filling station. T. Mobley writes: This store was THE place for local gentlemen to gather and discuss their crops, neighbors, wives, or other important events of the day, while enjoying a cold beverage.
Update: As of 2020, this structure has been demolished.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
This may be my favorite Craftsman in Waynesboro. The second floor isn’t even visible from the sidewalk (below).
A survey for the National Register nomination found as many as 130 houses in Waynesboro with Craftsman elements, though I didn’t observe that many.
The style, while encompassing specific parameters, is quite wide ranging in execution.
The above example is a central hallway cottage transformed into an eclectic Craftsman.
Brick versions are generally less common in smaller towns.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Our friend and favorite genealogist Kenneth Dixon writes: This house was built by James Madison Reynolds (1809-1878), the son of Thomas & Eugenia Heyser Reynolds from Maryland, who is buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Augusta. He married Mary Ann Jones (1814-1884), daughter of Thomas & Hannah Hadley Jones. My 6th great-uncle Wright Murphree (1797-1853) married Mary Ann’s sister Jane Martha Jones (1802-1843), and Wright and James were involved in many land transactions together. James was an extensive planter in Burke County and owned large tracts of land, including “Rosemary Place,” his plantation which he lived on from 1846 to 1863. He also had a summer residence in Brothersville, now called Hephzibah. When the old Carter-Munnerlyn House on Liberty Street in Waynesboro was demolished ca. 1932, which was built sometime in the late 18th-century, before or just after the Revolutionary War, the fine wood paneling from one of the rooms was salvaged and installed in the Reynolds home. George Washington and Woodrow Wilson both stayed in the Carter-Munnerlyn House. The house remained in the Reynolds family for six generations before being sold out of the family recently.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
An earlier house on this lot, owned by Mrs. Frank L. Brinson, Sr. (Martha Elizabeth Herrington Brinson), burned in 1913 shortly after the installation of electricity. This house was built soon thereafter and was the home of Frank L. Brinson, Jr. The family has remained in the house for over a century.
Waynesboro Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 