Enthusiasts tour historic sites

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

October 10, 2008 10:15 pm

— Ken Padgett last stepped onto the streets of Milledgeville more than 11 years ago — and when he visited Milledgeville as one of the more than 100 participants of the Georgia Alliance of Preservation Commission’s fall Historic Preservation Commission training, he wasn’t disappointed with what he found.
“It’s been 11 years since I last came to Milledgeville,” Padgett said as he glanced out a window of the Legislative Chambers of the Old Capitol Building on the Georgia Military College campus Friday afternoon. “There’s been some really pleasant changes, especially in the downtown area, such as the Streetscape project.”
About five months ago, the Milledgeville Historic Preservation Commission, which meets monthly in the Executive Chambers of Milledgeville City Hall, decided to put Milledgeville’s name in the proverbial hat as a candidate to host the GAPC’s Fall HPC training.
About three months ago, they were given the good news that they’d been accepted — good news that has kept HPC members on their toes for more than two months as rooms have been booked, plans made, scrapped and re-made and last-minute details confirmed and reconfirmed.
Friday everything seemed to come together almost flawlessly when 105 registered members of Historic Preservation Commissions from across the State of Georgia descended on Milledgeville for two days of training, workshops and city tours that will be completed Saturday afternoon.
“We’re always trying to get new ideas for how we can help our own cities,” Connie Rainey with Ft. Valley HPC said. “We always walk away with a lot of things to do. We have a lot of history in our own town back at Fort Valley.”
All 105 registered members met inside the Old Capitol Legislative Chambers Friday afternoon, where a view through the windows in the back of the room provided a partial view of the demolition of a barracks on the GMC campus that will provide a site for a new Prep School on the campus within the next two years.
GMC President Maj. Peter J. Boylan (Ret.) spoke to those in attendance and provided the historic enthusiasts with a brief history of the campus.
Boylan particularly emphasized the parade grounds on the campus located behind the Old Capitol Building which have a unique history of their own.
“Years ago every soldier that went to war came to parade here before leaving. There is a lot of history on those grounds. GMC Is proud to have all of you here to see it,” Boylan said.
Ray Luce, director of the Historic Preservation Commission, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, also spoke to the attendees during Friday’s opening session.
“If it weren’t for all of your efforts, none of this would be happening,” Luce said referring to the thousands of historic projects and sites around the state. “Restoration takes place on a local level — you are the ones in the trenches. What you do is terribly important. There was a time when historic preservation was just the mansion on the hill, and it was left like that for a long time.”
It’s hard work that Padgett, who will return to Calhoun and the Gordon County HPC on Monday, knows a lot about.
“Unlike our town, there’s a lot of things to do in Milledgeville at night,” Padgett said. “You can just come and park and just wander through the historic district. It’s great.”
The HPC training will continue at Georgia Military College throughout the day Saturday, with a scheduled “wrap-up” around 4 p.m.
The Georgia Alliance of Preservation Commissions (GAPC) is a statewide, non-profit organization “dedicated to providing support to local historic preservation commissions,” according to the organization’s Web site at www.uga.edu/gapc.
The HPC typically hosts a training session twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall.
Former host cities have included Douglas, Cartersville, Madison, Elberton and Savannah.
“Milledgeville is a beautiful city and what they have done is phenomenal. I took the tour of homes and the historic district is probably 100 years older than ours.” Rainey said.

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