Some endangered Athens properties are getting a helping hand.
The Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation (ACHF) has announced the properties for its first annual Athens Places in Peril program.
Tommy Valentine, Executive Director at the ACHF, says the new list is comprised of community-solicited projects and is designed to encourage and guide ongoing efforts to save endangered historic spaces in Athens-Clarke County.
“To make this list each project had to meet three criteria,” according to Valentine. “It had to be historic, it had to be endangered and it had to be currently supported by an ongoing preservation effort.”
He says the list represents critical pieces of Athens history.
“Including an old school house from the Jim Crow era of Athens education, it includes an important cemetery, an African-American cemetery out in Winterville, it includes other projects that we really feel the community will be excited about and we’re excited about bringing these groups together and bringing them to success.”
Valentine says community input is essential to helping preserve the city’s history, since one organization can’t tackle every project.
“What we wanted to do was connect with people that were already doing work on the ground, lend them our expertise and resources and really be a part of the preservation community instead of trying to do it all ourselves.
The 2019 Athens Places in Peril list includes: Beech Haven, The American Legion / Frank C. Maddox Center, Central Baptist Church Cemetery in Winterville, Billups Grove School House, Whitehall, and Reese Street School.
The initiative will officially launch on August 22 at ACHF’s Monthly Preservation Potluck at Old Fire Hall No. 2. More details on that event can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1238814456292044/.
