Local landmarks receive restoration grants

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

July 03, 2009 08:00 am

— The Flannery O’Connor farm property of Andalusia and the former downtown tea room Brown-Stetson-Sanford House are two of among five sites in the Central Georgia area that have been awarded grant money for restoration or preservation purposes.
The announcement was made via press release Wednesday.
The grants, which were awarded in the amount of $5,000 for each site, were awarded by the Milledgeville Junior Board for Historic Preservation, a group of high school students that awards grants annually to preservation projects and historical sites in the Middle Georgia area.
This year the 13-member board awarded more than $31,000 to preservation projects in Milledgeville and surrounding communities.
Grants awarded for 2009 included $5,000 to Andalusia in Milledgeville for restoration work on the farm’s milk shed; $10,434.50 to Old City Cemetery/Washington County Historic Society in Sandersville for tomb repairs; $6,240 to Gordon: A New Beginning in Gordon for grave restoration in the Gordon City Cemetery; $5,000 to Georgia’s Old Capital Museum in Milledgeville for plaster restoration in the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House and $4,250 to Old School Museum in Eatonton for exhibition cases and document preservation.
Amy Wright is the director of Georgia’s Old Capital Museum, which along with the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House falls under the direction of Georgia’s Old Capital Museum Society.
Wright’s father, John Johnson, helped to move the house from the downtown area to its current site on Hancock Street more than 43 years ago after the house faced destruction in the wake of a changing downtown business climate.
Wright is also a board member with the Society and has kept close ties to both the museum and the house during her time associated with the board.
“We are thrilled. This will allow us to begin work on removing damaged plaster and with the restoration. It’s in the ceiling upstairs,” Wright explained. “There are some areas around the other rooms, but the master bedroom has the most damage.”
The Milledgeville Junior Board for Historic Preservation was established in October 2006 through a $43,000 grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation for operations and funding allocated to fund preservation projects selected and approved by the board.
The board meets once a month during the school year from August through May.
Members of this year’s board are John Felt of Eatonton, Katherine Lacksen and Jacob Pounds, both of Sparta; Justin Shiver of Gray; Trey Veal of Warthen; and Christina Azahar, Mitch Beall, Natali Gavanarove, Clara Gilbert, Megan Gillis, Kerry McGill, Caitlin McNeill and Kyle Walker, all of Milledgeville.
“I am especially proud of this year’s board of very motivated and gifted students who facilitated these grants,” Matt Davis, coordinator of the Junior Board project and curator at The Old Governor’s Mansion, said. “I’m quite proud of the professionalism and dedication that was shown.”
This is not the first time Andalusia has benefited from grants from the board. In 2007, the board awarded Andalusia $8,500 to restore the pump house on the property.
That same year the board awarded $5,000 to the Gordon Cemetery to restore grave markers and $3,500 to the Jones county Educational Museum to build exhibits.
The Brown-Stetson-Sanford House has also been recognized by the board for past grants, having been awarded a grant of $5,000 to Georgia’s Old Capital Museum Society to restore an upstairs bedroom in 2007.
Grants are renewable on a yearly basis, and the board functions as part of the educational programming at the Old Governor’s Mansion, which itself is a unit of Georgia College & State University.
“Everything about the Brown-Stetson-Sanford House is very personal to me. I’m delighted the board has recognized the significance of the house and the importance of preserving it,” Wright said.
Wright added she didn’t believe that once the money is made available that the plaster project would impact any tourism-related activities or visits to the site and that the job could even be done in “as little as a few weeks” depending on contractor scheduling.
Wright estimated the full cost for the restoration and plaster removal project of the house at more than $15,000.
“I’m already researching for more grants to help with the cost,” Wright said Thursday.
Grant applications to the Milledgeville Junior Board were written in late February and were due for submission by March 3.
Last year there were 15 applications requesting more than $150,000 in grants. In 2007 the board provided more than $25,000 in grant money to the Middle Georgia area.
Projects are selected by the board via a list of selected sites. The students then break into two-person teams and visit the sites, then come together at a later date to discuss their findings.
The Milledgeville Junior Board for Historic Preservation considers applications from 11 counties within Middle Georgia, including Baldwin, Putnam, Morgan, Jasper, Hancock, Monroe, Jones, Washington, Bibb, Wilkinson and Twiggs counties.
For more information about this program, call Matt Davis, assistant curator of education and coordinator of the Junior Board project, or Jim Turner at (478) 445-4545.
“I continue to be very grateful to the Watson Brown Foundation for their generous support of the Junior Board,” Jim Turner, mansion director, stated. “The board remains one of our most important educational outreach programs.”

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