Protecting the Past

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation’s 2023 Places in Peril spotlights empty schools, abandoned churches and a building that has been home to several Black businesses during the 20th century. “There’s a heightened awareness of formerly ignored communities and the impact on their historic resources and heritage. There’s a renewed interest in preserving that,” says Mark C. Mcdonald, president and CEO, of the 18th-annual list.

The list of 10 spaces has fewer residences than in recent years, but one of the two—the McConnell-Chadwick House—is located in Metro Atlanta. The Milton Historical Society’s nomination warranted a spot because the home, built in the 1830s, is historically important for its Greek Revival design and relation to the 1838 Cherokee Removal, says McDonald. The hope is to create a museum or community center to “show off the architecture and the nature that surrounds it,”
says McDonald.

The 2023 list also includes 229 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta, where a tornado damaged several buildings in the adjacent district in 2008, the Beulah Grove Lodge and School in Douglasville, Dasher High School in Valdosta, Georgia and more.