The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 established our nation’s preservation programs, including the National Register of Historic Places.  Georgia’s National Register program began in 1969 with 13 listings in the National Register.  These early listings included some of Georgia’s most recognizable historic places including the Savannah Historic District, Etowah Mounds, Joel Chandler Harris House (Wren’s Nest), and the Juliette Gordon Low House.  In the ensuing 40 years, Georgia’s National Register program has listed historic places in each of Georgia’s 159 counties from our oldest historic places, like the Kolomoki Mounds built between 250-900 AD, to our “newest” historic resources - Ranch Houses from the 1950s and 1960s.  

In 1983, the Carnegie Library in Lavonia (Franklin County) became Georgia’s 1,000th National Register listing.  As part of a multiple property submission, Lavonia listed four historic districts and 24 individual properties including the historic roller mill, depot, commercial, and residential districts. 

As Georgia’s 2,000th National Register listing, the Waynesboro Historic District is significant for encompassing an entire intact historic city with its historic commercial, residential, community landmark, agricultural, and industrial buildings.  Through local preservation efforts, Waynesboro is an excellent example of Georgians retaining and reusing their historic buildings into the 21st century. 

It is fun to speculate on what Georgia’s 3,000th National Register listing may be.  Let’s assume the same amount of time will pass between our 2,000th listing and our 3,000th listing as passed between the 1,000th and 2,000th.  In 25 years, it will be the year 2034!  In 2034, buildings that are at least 50 years old would have been built in 1984.  During the 1980s in Georgia’s cities, many office parks and office towers were built on the fringes of downtowns or in the suburbs.  In metro Atlanta in 1984, construction of the Concourse at Landmark Center started and would continue until 1991.  The planned office park with its two main office towers, more commonly known as the “King” and “Queen” towers, may well be the subject of Georgia’s 3,000th listing. 

For more information about the National Register, please visit our website at www.gashpo.org or visit the National Park Service at www.nps.gov/history/nR/.
 

 

I hope you have been noticing more historic preservation license plates around the state.  My personal favorite is the one on the coast in a frame that reads: “Gut Fish, Not Buildings.”  
 
Thank you to all who have purchased the plate.  As you may know it is our only source of grants funding now that state funding for the Georgia Heritage Grants has been deferred because of budget cuts.  We are very lucky to receive $22 out of every $25 spent for a specialty license plate because more recently approved plates only provide $10 for the sponsored cause.
 
The good news is that sales/renewals are increasing; the bad news is that at the rate we are going we would still be at about 2,000, well short of the 5,000 we had hoped to sell.  5,000 in sales is a figure that will yield over $100,000 and enable us to assist many more historic resources.  So, those of you who have purchased them continue to spread the word to your friends and neighbors, and those of you have not bought one yet—think seriously about it.
 
Additional information:  We now have 121 counties in which someone has purchased a license plate.  Ten new counties have been added during the first three months of 2009: Baldwin, Laurens, Polk, Decatur, Catoosa, Burke, McDuffie, Miller, Long, and Glascock.  Fulton County leads in the number sold with 239, followed by DeKalb, Chatham, Cobb, Gwinnett, Muscogee, Clayton, Carroll; Cherokee and Bibb tied for 10th.  

For information on obtaining a historic preservation license plate, visit www.gashpo.org/content/displaycontent.asp?txtDocument=327.
 

In August 2008, Tropical Storm Fay caused significant beach erosion along the barrier islands of coastal Georgia revealing the partial remains of a wooden shipwreck.  After the storm passed, DNR’s underwater archaeologist Chris McCabe and Jekyll Island archaeologist Andrea Marroquin examined the newly exposed wreck.  The amount of time spent onsite was limited by tidal surf and the resulting redeposit of sand over the remains. Nevertheless the two managed to get a reasonable picture of the vessel’s skeletal structure before it was reclaimed by the shifting shoreline.

Follow-up investigations linked the design, construction, and damage of the remaining timbers with the historical and environmental records.  Collectively they point to a 19th century coastal steamboat named Magnolia, which exploded and sank in the Frederica River in 1852.  Newspaper accounts of the day reported that a boiler explosion ripped the vessel in half, tragically killing fourteen passengers and crew.  Several witnesses saw the steamboat’s forward section floating downriver “nearly five miles distant from the place of the disaster.”  The partial remains uncovered by last summer’s storm are very likely those of Magnolia’s bow.  Wood sample analyses should reveal additional pieces of the puzzle and help determine if this is indeed the case.

For more information on our underwater archaeology program, visit www.gashpo.org/content/displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=79.




Tax incentives for historic houses
by Ced Dolder, Tax Incentives Coordinator

Has anyone suggested that you get a grant to help finance your home’s rehab? Well, unfortunately, this is bad advice. Any grants that might be available are, more than likely, only for non-profits and local governments, not personal residences. So what should you do if you have a run-down Victorian era house located in a National Register Historic District and you are thinking of making it into the cozy Bluebird Bed and Breakfast? In these hard economic times, we all need to get a handle on what could help us financially and perhaps provide some sort of support for historic good intentions and rehabilitation work well done!

HPD may be able to help!
Federal and state preservation tax credits and county property tax assessment freeze programs are already in place for your use without having to wait for a legislative session or a stimulus package to become effective. In fact, the preservation state income tax credit was recently increased, making it more attractive for an owner of a historic building to undertake a rehabilitation project.

What Tax Incentives are available?
Federal Rehabilitation Investment Tax Credit – This income tax credit is equal to 20% of your rehabilitation expenses. It is available ONLY for income-producing properties.
Property Tax Assessment Freeze – This program allows a freeze on your property’s assessed value for over eight years. The freeze begins after HPD approves your planned rehabilitation and continues following completion of your project.   The abatement is available for both income-producing properties and personal residences.
State Income Tax Credit for Rehabilitated Historic Property – For projects completed after January 1, 2009, you can claim 25% of your qualifying rehabilitation expenses. This is capped at $100,000 for private residences and $300,000 for income-producing properties.

What should you know before getting started?
-Your property must be listed in or eligible for the National/Georgia Registers of Historic Places, either individually or as a building listed as contributing to the historic integrity of a National/Georgia Register Historic District.
-Project work must meet National Park Service and Department of Natural Resources Standards for Rehabilitation.
-Substantial cost tests must be met to qualify for each program.
-The application process involves review and approval of rehabilitation plans before work starts and after work is completed.
-Applications for the state tax incentives must be reviewed and approved by HPD. The federal applications are reviewed by HPD and then sent on to the National Park Service for that agency’s final approval.


Case study: 110-112 West 34th Street, Savannah

Frequently Asked Questions: Historical Markers

Historical Markers erected by the Department of Natural Resources (left) and the Georgia Historical Society(right).

Our office frequently receives phone calls about the state's Historical Markers; however, they do not fall under our jurisdiction.

Questions about erecting a new marker
Since 1998, the non-profit Georgia Historical Society is responsible for all new Historical Markers.  To read about the rules for erecting a Historic Marker, visit www.georgiahistory.com/containers/141.

Questions about the maintenance of existing markers
Any marker erected before 1998 falls under the jurisdiction of the Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites Division of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR).  Cultural Resources Manager Mr. Frankie Mewborn is in charge of the program.  He may be reached at frankie.mewborn@dnr.state.ga.us or 770-389-7271.

Any marker erected after 1998 falls under the jurisdiction of the Georgia Historical Society.  These recent markers can be identified by their black background and white lettering.  For more information visit www.georgiahistory.com/historic_markers.

For a comprehensive list of state markers old and new visit http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gahistmarkers/gamarkerscontents.htm.

A brief history
1930s - 1940s: The first organized effort to create historical markers in Georgia is funded by the Federal Works Progress Administration.
1951: The Georgia General Assembly creates the Georgia Historical Commission.
1952 - 1968: The Commission begins to erect markers, reaching its peak between 1952 and 1959.  These early markers are made of cast aluminum and painted olive green with gold lettering.  The program is discontinued in 1968; the Commission felt that nearly everything of historical significance had been recognized.
1973 - Early 1990s: The Georgia Historical Society is dissolved and its functions are transferred to the Department of Natural Resources.  DNR erects few new markers during this period, focusing instead on repairing existing ones.  DNR's markers are very similar to those placed by the Historical Commission, with a few notable differences.  Most conspicuously, DNR maintenance staff frequently painted a brown area in the center of the historical marker to simulate the appearance of metal long exposed to outdoor conditions.
Early - Mid 1990s: The Historical Marker program is shifted to an out-of-state private contractor.
Mid-1990s - 1997: Responsibility for the program is transferred back to DNR.
1998 - Present: Responsibility for erecting new markers is transferred to the Georgia Historical Society.  Approximately 20 markers have been erected each year.  While similar in shape to their state predecessors, the new GHS markers are painted black with white lettering and replace the Georgia state seal with the GHS seal.  Responsibility for the maintenance of existing markers remains in DNR.

For detailed information on the program's history visit http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/gahistmarkers/gamarkersintro.htm.

 

Q. What made you choose archaeology as your profession?
A. My dad convinced me to take an archaeology course in the first year of my bachelor's degree, after which I became hooked and took just about every archaeology course offered at the University of Virginia.  I really enjoyed the courses but didn't know it was truly what I wanted to do professionally until I took my archaeological field school in Charlottesville, VA (through UVA).

Q. What's the most interesting site you've worked on in Georgia?
A. It's hard to say which site is the most interesting.  One of the great things about working in DNR is that I've had the opportunity to do surveys and work on a number of sites across the state, some of the most interesting of which include Ossabaw Island, Hardman Farm, and a CCC camp at Hard Labor Creek State Park.

Q. What kind of projects do you spend the bulk of your time reviewing?
A. I review all projects carried out through the Georgia Department of Transportation.  This includes things like road widenings, intersection improvements, bridge replacements, and of course new roads.  Typically, archaeology surveys for these projects either don't find anything or find sites that are already disturbed, and they typically generate relatively short reports.  Every now and then, however, an important site is discovered during survey and often needs to be excavated prior to a project going through - the reports from these sort of sites can be great reads and really informative, so I always look forward to this level of project.

Ryan received his Bachelor's Degree in Archaeology from the University of Virginia in 2004 and spent the following year employed as an archaeology field assistant by two private foundations that manage several historic sites in Virginia.  This experience led him to the Historical Archaeology Master's Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he worked on numerous projects in the zooarchaeology laboratory, conducted his own zooarchaeological research for his thesis, and participated in fieldwork at sites in both Massachusetts and New York before completing his degree in 2008.  After completing his Master's coursework, Ryan moved to Atlanta where he accepted a position with a private cultural resource management firm, gaining experience and knowledge about Georgia's rich archaeological heritage. In November 2007, Ryan joined the Archaeological Services Unit at the Historic Preservation Division as a Review Archaeologist. His job duties include environmental review of all Georgia Department of Transportation projects.  When not busy with archaeological pursuits, Ryan enjoys spending time with a corgi named Bisco.

For more information on HPD's Archaeological Services Unit visit www.gashpo.org/content/displaynavigation.asp?TopCategory=76.


Upcoming HPD staff appearances
August 20 - Ced Dolder, Tax Incentives Coordinator - "Creative Financing and Historic Preservation" - Historic Columbus Foundation - www.historiccolumbus.com