Preservation posts: the online journal of the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Aug. 2009

In this issue:
-Surveying St. Catherines Sound -Are you familiar with these churches? -Preservation license tags -Staff Profiles: Keith Hebert -Upcoming HPD staff appearances
Surveying St. Catherines Sound
by Chris McCabe, Underwater Archaeologist

The steamboat Enoch Dean, seen here in an 1852 painting by James Bard.
Fieldwork and analysis continue on the St. Catherines Sound underwater archaeology survey.
Deputy State Archaeologist Chris McCabe and East Carolina University graduate student Stephen Dilk, with support from the Coastal Resources Division and Fort Morris Historic Site, are utilizing side-scan sonar, underwater magnetometer, low-visibility scuba diving, and shoreline investigation methods to locate and identify underwater, inter-tidal, and estuarine archeological sites in state-managed waters. Discoveries to date include multiple shipwreck targets and several colonial-era wharf sites near the historical community of Sunbury. The effort also includes a preliminary search for the 19th century steamboat Enoch Dean, lost in April 1865 while transporting African American Freedmen to new settlements along the Georgia coast. For more information on underwater archaeology in Georgia, visit www.gashpo.org/content/ displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=79.

Are you familiar with these churches?
by Ray Luce, Division Director
The First Baptist Church in Sylvania (left) and the Martha Brown Methodist Church in Atlanta (right) bear a striking resemblance to one another.
The buildings pictured above are part of a group of churches that have an unusual curved front
and classical columns. The design was constructed in several places in Georgia, including: Americus, Lee Street Methodist Church Atlanta (Moreland Avenue), Martha Brown Methodist Church Cochran, First United Methodist Church Ocilla, Baptist Church (1918) Rochelle, First Methodist (1918) Sylvania, First Baptist Church Are you familiar with one of these churches or one that has a similar design? We are trying to identify the architect(s)/builder(s) and determine whether the churches came from a general church plan book or were individually designed by one or more architects. Please contact me at ray.luce@dnr.state.ga.us if you know anything about these or other similar buildings.

Preservation license tags
by Mary Ann Eaddy, Technical Services Unit Manager
One of the benefits of increased tag sales is seeing more and more preservation license plates on
the road. Tag sightings are on the rise and are a source of much pleasure. Some staff members report seeing the license plates while sitting in traffic. (It is especially intriguing when you can't identify the driver.) Someone was waiting to pick up her child in the interminable school car line and was delighted by the preservation tag on the vehicle in front of her. Parking lots are also a source of entertainment. A recent meeting at the Georgia Trust brought together three vehicles, parked side by side - each boasting a preservation tag. It is especially rewarding to see a tag on a car parked at a "non-preservation" event. The most unusual sighting was a vehicle (with tag) receiving a parking ticket. Staff on vacation in New Hampshire enjoyed inquiries about Georgia's tag. "We need one of these in New Hampshire" was heard several times!
As enjoyable as these sightings are, they also represent something even more important. They reflect your commitment to the state's historic resources and your desire to ensure financially the preservation and protection of Georgia's historic built environment. Due to your support, HPD will be able to award over $40,000 to projects through the Georgia Heritage Grant program in SFY 2010. With the severe budget situation facing state government this year, these are the only funds available for Georgia Heritage. Last year (SFY 2009), HPD funded one project the Tybee Theatre on Tybee Island for $20,000. Your continued support of the tag has more than doubled the assistance that can be provided to endangered historic resources.
Georgia Heritage applications for SFY 2010 have been submitted to HPD and are awaiting review. Our Grants Team will meet in August to discuss the projects and make funding recommendations to our Division Director and DNR Commissioner. We are so very pleased that money is available

this year as a result of your advocacy. A heartfelt thank you to those who are aiding preservation efforts through your purchase and promotion of the tag. This is truly a situation in which your actions have a direct, tangible impact on the future of our state's historic places.
Staff Profiles
Keith Hebert, National Register Historian

Keith has been a historian in the National Register unit since July of 2007. This July was his last
month at HPD; in the fall he will be joining the history department faculty at the University of West Georgia as an assistant professor, where he will teach a variety of public history courses (archives, digital history, oral history, state and local history, etc.). A native of the state of Georgia, Keith grew up in a rural section of Bartow County. His love for history developed in part from frequent visits as a child to local historic sites such as the Etowah Indian Mounds, Cooper's Iron Works, and the Chickamauga National Battlefield Park. He graduated from the University of West Georgia with a B.A. degree in history in 1998, from Virginia Tech with a M.A. degree in history in 2001, and with distinction from Auburn University with a Ph.D. in history in 2007. He wrote his dissertation on the history of Bartow County, Georgia, during the Civil War era under

the direction of Kenneth W. Noe. Keith is married and has a four-year-old son. He currently resides in the city of Bremen (Haralson County).
Q. How has your time working at HPD affected the way you see Georgia's historic resources? A. Working for HPD has opened my eyes to the complex challenges associated with historic preservation. I have been fortunate to work alongside a group of devoted professionals who have taken the time to help me put my passion for the study of history to work for the benefit of historic preservation. Our office is constantly laboring to inform the general public as well as local, state, and federal governmental agencies of the benefits of preserving Georgia's historic resources. Today I see the state's historic resources in terms akin to endangered species, under constant threat from developmental pressures and the apathy of those who fail to see the value of preserving the past. When historic buildings such as the Pickrick Restaurant in Atlanta (site of one of the most significant events of the Civil Rights Movement in Georgia) and the Bibb Mill Complex in Columbus are destroyed due to negligence and/or indifference on the part of its caretakers, our connection to Georgia's rich history is weakened and the ability of future generations of historians to fully interpret that history is undermined. Historians directly benefit from the work of historic preservationists.
Q. How has working more directly with historic buildings and places, as compared to documents, affected the way you view Georgia history? A. Historic preservation has the potential to preserve historic artifacts created by groups that are under represented in most archival collections. Historians interested in studying the lives of mid20th century blue collar factory workers, for example, might be hard pressed to locate manuscript collections with documents created by those workers. Meanwhile, if that same historian were to visit the Hapeville Historic District in Fulton County he/she would be able to see hundreds of American Small Houses that were once occupied by employees of the Ford Motor Plant. Those houses combined with a variety of preserved commercial and community landmark buildings provide historians with invaluable insight into the daily lives of those workers.
There is a sense of place that is evident in a historic building that most archival documents lack. For example, a visitor can see a sample of the art created by nationally significant artist Eddie Owens Martin at several museums throughout the state. However, one cannot fully understand

the context behind his art unless they visit his masterful visionary-art environment Pasaquan in Marion County (listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2008 at the national level of significance). A piece of his art that has been removed from Pasaquan and placed on display in a sterile museum has lost a lot of the historic integrity that defines its historic significance. Historic preservation reinforces themes such as place over time in a manner that documents divorced from their original setting cannot convey.
Upcoming HPD staff appearances
August 20 - Ced Dolder, Tax Incentives Coordinator - "Creative Financing and Historic Preservation" - Historic Columbus Foundation - www.historiccolumbus.com
Our mailing address is: Georgia Historic Preservation Division Department of Natural Resources 34 Peachtree Street, NW, Suite 1600 Atlanta, GA 30303 Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2009 Georgia Historic Preservation Division All rights reserved.
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