Preservation posts: the online journal of the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Dec. 2014

Preservation Posts - December 2014
In this issue:
- Stewart County Jail Receives Georgia Heritage Grant - Watkinsville Community and Students Remember Principal Edwin David Stroud - A Pig Roast to Benefit Ossabaw Island - Recent News & Announcements - Upcoming Events
Division Director Dr. David Crass will resume his regular column next month.
Stewart County Jail Receives Georgia Heritage Grant
By Carole Moore, Tax Incentives & Grants Coordinator
Tax Incentives & Grants Coordinator Carole Moore stands with members of the Stewart County Historical Commission during an HPD site visit to the Stewart County Jail, owned by the commission.
Last month HPD Grants Coordinator Carole Moore, Tax Incentives & Rehabilitation Guidance Program Manager Rachel Klaas, and Historic Resources Section Chief Bill Hover visited the historic Stewart County Jail, located in the town of Lumpkin, continuing the long-time HPD tradition of making fall season site visits to newly-awarded Georgia Heritage Grant recipients.
The Stewart County Historical Commission, which owns the jail, has received a $10,000 Georgia Heritage Grant to undertake stabilization and window repairs for the circa 1904 two-story brick building. The jail is located on the courthouse square within the downtown Lumpkin Commercial Historic District. After its rehabilitation is completed, the building will serve as a much-needed headquarters for the historical commission and as a community event center.
The Georgia Heritage Grant Program has been funded by preservation license plate revenue since 2009. Since that time, almost 14,000 plates have been purchased or renewed and $126,685 in grants awarded to ten projects, including the Stewart County Jail. Since the Georgia Heritage Grant program was established in 1995, HPD staff, grant coordinators, and architectural reviewers have traveled the state of Georgia, seeing a wide variety of historic resources in a wide variety of settings, ranging from large community landmarks, such as courthouses; to rural farmsteads; to urban city halls, jails, and libraries; to African American schools and Masonic buildings; to cemeteries; to tiny structures, such as the Bank of Surrency (now a welcome center) and the Poulan library.
During a site visit, HPD staff have had the opportunity to meet and greet the many individuals (grant writers, project managers, city managers, mayors, county commissioners, historical society members, preservation planners, and others) associated with a successful Georgia Heritage Grant project application and to see the historic resource itself - up close and personal.
The purpose of the initial grant site visit is to deliver and discuss the paperwork requirements for the grant and also offer valuable technical advice on the project. "It helps them get started in the right direction, and I also have the opportunity to see the project and to really understand what is involved," says Ms Klaas. "Visiting the project helps me to be a better architectural reviewer," she adds. HPD is more than just a source of funds for preservation projects. We consider ourselves to be partners with the grant recipient and have a vested interest in the success of the project.
Historical commission members Gail Lynch and Randy Butts believe the rehabilitation of the Stewart County Jail will serve as a focal point for the revitalization of historic downtown Lumpkin. "We hope the project will spark a renewed interest in putting the various vacant historic storefronts back into use," said Ms Lynch, referring to the 1970s and 1980s when a flurry of preservation activity occurred in the community, including National Register nominations and the initial rehabilitation of the 1836 Bedenfield Inn (also owned by the Stewart County Historical Commission).
Indeed, Georgia Heritage Grants are envisioned to act as "seed" funds, a catalyst to spur other grants and preservation activity within the community. For example, the first license platefunded grant award of $20,000 to the Tybee Post Theater in Chatham County has since generated over $400,000 in private and civic donations due to community support and enthusiasm for the project.
The Lumpkin courthouse square is surrounded by a series of architecturally intact Victorian and Greek Revival historic storefronts, many of them brick with cast-iron columns, all possible candidates for using the preservation tax incentives if they are rehabilitated. With its 1923 Neoclassical Revival courthouse, the Greek Revival Bedenfield Inn (undergoing a second rehabilitation with a federal Transportation Enhancement (TE) program grant), a rehabilitated historic jail, and historic storefronts, the City of Lumpkin appears to be an attractive heritage tourism destination, particularly with Historic Westville village also only a few miles outside of town.
The Stewart County Jail project is scheduled to be finished by the end of next September and HPD staff look forward to seeing the positive ripple effects of its rehabilitation. More information on the Georgia Heritage Grant Program is available on our website.
Watkinsville Community and Students Remember Principal Edwin David Stroud
By Jeanne Cyriaque, African American Programs Coordinator
Left: A bronze plaque of Principal Edwin David Stroud, located inside Colham Ferry Elementary School today. Right: Stroud's descendents are greeted by Oconee County Schools Superintendent Lynch (far left) at the historic marker dedication.
Colham Ferry Elementary School (CFES) is an active elementary school in the Oconee County School System in Watkinsville. Located on Colham Ferry Road in Watkinsville, the school has an interesting past that would have been obscured were it not for a social studies research project the fourth grade class undertook in 2013 to uncover its association as a former Georgia Rosenwald School.
The students wanted to know what happened to the Watkinsville Rosenwald School. Though they researched the topic extensively and found the old building that was used as a barn, they could not locate any historic photos of the school. So, their teachers encouraged them to go to primary sources such as living alumni and teachers who still lived in the community and remembered its African American past. From the community they learned a great deal about a man whose bronze plague is hung adjacent to the media center where they study daily: Edwin David Stroud.
During the school's existence as the Watkinsville Rosenwald School, E.D. Stroud was its principal from 1941-1950. Principal Stroud served the Watkinsville African American community as an educator whose career spanned 50 years. He grew up in Greene County and attended Union Baptist Institute. E.D. and Pernolia Stroud, who was also a teacher, had eight children and lived in Farmington where the professor taught at the Mount Zion School before he became principal of the Watkinsville Rosenwald School.
Stroud served as the Watkinsville Rosenwald principal until a new era expanded the school site to fifteen acres. As the current CFES students would learn, the old Rosenwald School was demolished to build the E.D. Stroud School in his honor. The E.D. Stroud School, built in 1956, consisted of an elementary wing, offices for campus faculty, a cafeteria/auditorium, home economics laboratory, library and high school wing. The E.D. Stroud School was also built exclusively for African American students, and was one of Georgia's 500 equalization schools. Students who were formerly taught in church schools or rural schoolhouses then had a modern, International Style school building, cannery and later a gymnasium that served all the African American children, grades one through twelve, on a single campus. It was a source of pride for the African American community in Watkinsville though the E.D. Stroud School only existed in his name for a little over a decade.
The first graduation at E.D. Stroud was in 1957. Three principals served the school: Marvin Billups, Theodore Dyson, and Lawrence Scotland. Some of the devoted teachers were Pernolia Stroud and the late Georgia Browning, who attended the CFES student presentation. School colors were blue and white and the mascot was the eagle. E.D. Stroud had an athletics department and students competed in boys and girls basketball, and had a boys' baseball team. When integration came to Oconee County Schools in 1969, the desegregation plan put the E.D. Stroud School's future in jeopardy. Finally, the Oconee County School Board of Education designated three county schools, and the E.D. Stroud School became the Oconee County Intermediate School, serving grades five through seven. Later, in 1996, the school was renamed Colham Ferry Elementary School.
When the CFES students presented their research at the school spring assembly, Annette Scotland, daughter-in-law of former principal Lawrence Scotland, was one of the community members who participated in the day's events. Scotland and members of the E.D. Stroud Alumni Association, inspired by the students' research, began conversations with the Oconee County School System, who granted permission to place a Georgia Historical Society marker at the current school site to commemorate Principal E.D. Stroud. Marker sponsors included: the Oconee County Board of Education, the Watkinsville City Council, Bethel Baptist Church, the Oconee County Historical Society, and the Georgia Natural Resources Foundation (GNRF). African American programs in the Historic Preservation Division received a grant from GNRF to bring greater recognition to equalization schools, and the current Colham Ferry Elementary School is one of the state's best examples of a school that remains in use as an active school.
The marker dedication was planned to precede graduation, as the fourth grade class would be moving on to middle school. Over 250 community members, students, parents, and descendants of E.D. Stroud participated. This summer CFES underwent yet another renovation, but today, due to the students and the Watkinsville community, future generations will know about its African American past and Principal E.D. Stroud.
More information about the class project is available in the July 2013 issue of Reflections (PDF). More information about historic African American schools in Georgia is available on our website.
A Pig Roast to Benefit Ossabaw Island
By Jennifer Weber, Staff Archaeologist
Set up for the Pig Roast occurred early in the morning in front of the Main House.
Every October for the past 13 years, the Torrey-West Estate on Ossabaw Island has played host to the Ossabaw Island Pig Roast and Art Auction. This year the Historic Preservation Division was honored to assist the Ossabaw Island Foundation (TOIF) in this annual fundraising event; the proceeds from which go toward the preservation and restoration of the Torrey-West house.
The day's events included a chartered boat ride to the island, where attendees were treated to a catered lunch featuring pork barbecue prepared by Ossabaw's own Roger Parker. There was also an auction where visitors could bid on one of a kind works of art donated by the many artists who have been inspired by the beauty of the island over the years. Auction items included fine arts such as paintings, photographs, and sculptures. HPD staff helped with preparations needed before, during, and after the big event, all while enjoying a beautiful, sunny fall day overlooking the Ossabaw sound.
The Main House is the home of Mrs. Eleanor "Sandy" West, whose family purchased the island in 1924. Mrs. West's father, Dr. Henry Norton Torrey, and his wife Nell built the Main House. The beautiful Spanish Colonial Revival style home took two years to complete and was finished in 1926. In 1978, the State of Georgia purchased Ossabaw Island under the stipulation that it would be designated a heritage preserve and through the efforts of the Department of Natural Resources, would be protected, preserved, conserved, and only used for natural, scientific, educational, or artistic purposes. Mrs. West retains the Main House and grounds in a life estate.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources partners with the Ossabaw Island Foundation in order to protect and preserve the island for generations to come. Founded in 1994, the Foundation has the monumental task of overseeing the preservation and restoration of the historic buildings and structures located on the island, including assistance with the Main House. In addition, the Foundation provides many educational, research, historic preservation, cultural, and scientific programs for visitors. As our mission, the Historic Preservation Division is committed to promoting the preservation and use of historic places for a better Georgia. We are pleased to be able to partner with an organization like the Ossabaw Island Foundation in our efforts on this jewel off the Georgia coast.
If you are interested in reading more about Ossabaw Island and its rich culture historic, please visit our Preservation Post archives. The next Pig Roast & Art Auction will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2015. More information on the island's rich history is available on the Ossabaw Island Foundation's website.
Recent News & Announcements
A.L. Miller School Listed in the National Register of Historic Places - (press release - December 8)
Smith-Manning House Listed in the National Register of Historic Places - (press release - December 4)
Upcoming Events
April 10-11, 2015 - Historic Preservation Commission Training - Dahlonega Held in partnership with the Georgia Alliance of Preservation Commissions. Registration is now open! Download the registration packet here (PDF).
Please send your comments or suggestions to charlie.miller@dnr.state.ga.us.
Not a member? Subscribe now! Our mailing address is: Georgia Historic Preservation Division Department of Natural Resources 254 Washington Street, SW, Ground Level Atlanta, GA 30334 Add us to your address book Copyright (C) 2014 Georgia Historic Preservation Division All rights reserved. Title image: The 1930 A.L. Miller High School and Gymnasium in Macon, as seen in a vintage postcard. The buildings were listed in the National Register on November 19 along with the adjacent 1950 junior high school. More