Dawson Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Eclectic Victorian Cottage, 1910, Dawson
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Tag Archives: National Register of Historic Places
Ruggles-Dozier House, 1890s, Dawson
F. A. Ruggles, who was a partner in the Dawson Manufacturing Company, built this home in the mid-1890s, as well as numerous other homes in Dawson. His daughter deeded the house to Mrs. Moses Baldwin in 1896. The Dozier family resided here from the 1930s to the 1990s. The Jordan and Almeida families were later owners.
Dawson Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Saville-Wooten-Lee-Giovingo House, 1890, Dawson
Built for Bob Saville, this Neoclassical landmark has been home to several families over the years. It was completely restored by the Giovingo family beginning in 1989.
I’ve also been told that this was the childhood home of Wayland Flowers, but haven’t been able to confirm; if not here, it was another house opposite the Baptist church. If anyone knows, please reach out.
Dawson Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Historic Warehouses, 1907, Valdosta
These derelict warehouses are well-known landmarks in downtown Valdosta. Multiple tenants have occupied them over the past century.
The W. L. Wisenbaker Company, wholesale grocer, was one of the earliest tenants. Others have included the Thomas Dekle Hardware Company, Valdosta Paper Company, Pearce & Skinner, and Mutual Candy Company.
The ghost signs are popular with photographers.
Valdosta Commercial Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Queen Anne Cottage, Circa 1870, Warrenton
Warrenton Downtown Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Georgia Welcome Center, 1961, Screven County
The oldest active welcome center in the nation was commissioned in 1960, built in 1961, and opened in 1962. The Space Age architecture was meant to be Georgia’s way of announcing to travelers that it was embracing the modern world.
Governor S. Ernest Vandiver was convinced that tourism was destined to become one of Georgia’s biggest industries and hired Statesboro architect Edwin C. Eckles to create something a bit out of the ordinary. Located just across the Savannah River from the South Carolina state line on busy U. S. Highway 301, the Welcome Center was well-positioned to carry out this mission in the era before interstate highways. Women were hired as “hostesses” to welcome weary travelers and to suggest they visit landmarks throughout the state.
Changing travel patterns mean fewer people come through these days, but hopefully, this relic of the space age will be around for a long time to come.
National Register of Historic Places
Baldwin-Stokes-Miller House, 1902, Dawson
This home was built for Andrew Jackson Baldwin. Later owners were the Stokes, Miller, Bell, and Narsullah families. Hopefully, it will be stabilized as it appears to have had serious vandalism issues.
Dawson Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Ruins of Wormsloe, 1740s, Savannah
Noble Jones was one of the original settlers of Georgia, coming to the colony with General James Oglethorpe in 1733. He applied for a land grant on the southern end of the Isle of Hope but the grant wasn’t formally approved by George II until 1756. Construction on the fortified tabby-and-wood house began around 1739 and was completed around 1745. The fortifications were seen as a necessary foil for a potential Spanish invasion.
Jones named the plantation Wormslow. It was originally thought that this was a reference to the silkworms that optimistic early colonists hoped would make Georgia a leading producer of silk, but in fact it was a prominent place name in the English-Welsh borderlands from which the Joneses came to the New World.
Noble’s son, Noble Wimberly Jones (c. 1723-1805) was the next owner and spent little time at the estate, preferring life in the city of Savannah. His sister, Mary Jones Bulloch also had a life estate in the property. The ruins of the first house remain today as material evidence of Georgia’s earliest days.
In contrast to his loyalist father, Noble W. Jones was a Whig, and after service in the provincial and state legislature pursued a career in medicine. He was elected to the Continental Congress but was unable to serve. Still, his dedication to the cause of revolution earned him the moniker “Morning Star of Liberty”.
George Jones, son of Noble Wimberly, was the next owner, and his son, George Frederick Tilghman Jones changed the spelling from Wormslow to Wormsloe. He also changed his own name to George Wymberly Jones and then added the surname De Renne. He was an active builder of improved structures on the property and was a large slave owner. De Renne was also an important collector of early Georgia documents and manuscripts, reprinting many rare items. The family is still involved in these pursuits to this day. A later descendant, Wymberly Wormsloe De Renne fell on financial hard times just before the Great Depression and opened the estate, with the fine gardens he had developed, to the public. Wormsloe Gardens became a prominent tourist attraction. Wormsloe House remains in the family but the surrounding grounds became a state historic site in 1979. One of the best events in Savannah, the annual Colonial Fare & Muster is staged here each year.
National Register of Historic Places
Martin House, Circa 1876, Sautee-Nacoochee
This was built by the original owner of Nora Mill, John Martin, and was later owned by the Hardman and Ivie families. It once served as a boarding house/hotel and is now home to an antique mall.
Nacoochee Valley Historic District, National Register of Historic Places
Nora Mill, Circa 1876, Sautee-Nacoochee
Built in 1876 by John Martin, a gold miner who decided to stay in the valley, Nora Mill got is present name when purchased by Dr. Lamartine Hardman around 1903. He christened it Nora Mill to honor the memory of his sister.
Instead of the typical water wheel usually associated with milling, Nora Mill utilizes a turbine, fed by a raceway, and gravity, to grind the grain. The 1500-lb. French Burr millstones have been turning out product for nearly 150 years.
In the early 1980s retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Ron Fain leased the mill from the Hardman family and thereafter revived it. His family continues to operate it to this day. The third and fourth generation of the family (Joann Fain Tarpley and husband Rich) run it today.
Tommy Martin has been the manager for many years and is glad to talk about the process and the history of the mill with visitors. His enthusiasm for the place certainly makes you want to return again and again. He told me that the corn meal is popular far and wide, and that Shaquille O’Neal had recently placed a large order for his new restaurant in Los Angeles.
Nacoochee Valley Historic District, National Register of Historic Places