Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation is the country's largest statewide, nonprofit preservation organization with more than 8,000 members. Founded in 1973, the Trust is committed to preserving and enhancing Georgia’s communities and their diverse historic resources for the education and enjoyment of all.

The Georgia Trust generates community revitalization by finding buyers for endangered properties acquired by its "Revolving Fund"; encourages neighborhood revitalization and provides design assistance to 105 Georgia "Main Street" cities; trains Georgia’s teachers to engage students in 61 Georgia school systems to discover state and national history through their local historic resources; and advocates for funding, tax incentives and other laws aiding preservation efforts. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatsnew/boilerplate.htm]

The Georgia Trust operates two historic house museums:
* Hay House, 1859, Macon
* Rhodes Hall, 1904, Atlanta

Georgia Trust Programs

In addition to providing preservation resources for individuals and communities throughout the state, The Georgia Trust helps save endangered houses and buildings, uncover the beauty of downtown buildings, educate the next preservation generation, and advocate for preservation funding and laws through the following programs:

Revolving Fund for Endangered Properties

The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation established the Revolving Fund for endangered properties in 1990 to provide effective alternatives to demolition or neglect of architecturally and historically significant properties by promoting rehabilitation and enabling owners of endangered historic properties to connect with buyers who will rehabilitate their properties.

The Revolving Fund accomplishes this goal by either accepting property donations or by purchasing options on endangered historic properties. The properties are then marketed nationally to locate buyers who agree to preserve and maintain the structures. Protective covenants are attached to the deeds to ensure that the historic integrity of each property is retained, and purchasers are required to sign rehabilitation agreements based on the work to be performed on the structure. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatwedo/revolving_fund.htm]

Main Street Design Assistance Program

Since the Main Street program's start in 1980, The Georgia Trust has offered design assistance, on-site rehabilitation consultations, hands-on presentations and hand-drawn and digital renderings to help business owners and downtown managers rehabilitate and reuse their historic resources.

Services provided by The Georgia Trust's Main Street Design Assistance Program have become integral to downtown revitalization efforts. Supported by the Department of Community Affairs' (DCA) Office of Downtown Development, the program has assisted more than 3,000 business owners in 105 Main Street cities across Georgia to encourage the rehabilitation of historic downtown commercial buildings. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatwedo/main_streetda.htm]

Talking Walls

A recipient of a Governor's Award in the Humanities, the Talking Walls heritage education program has trained more than 1,700 teachers, who have reached more than 370,000 students in 61 school systems in Georgia since 1991. The program's teacher workshops and ongoing local support trains educators to use local historic resources such as photos, maps, oral histories and historic buildings as teaching tools in Georgia's mandated curriculum.

The Georgia Department of Education recently emphasized the Trust's key role as an important educational resource by approving the Trust as a partner in its Educational Initiatives Program. This status recognizes The Georgia Trust as an official collaborator with the DOE to provide quality instructional materials to educators across the state. Talking Walls also received statewide certification by the Georgia DOE, allowing the Trust to award professional recertification credits to teachers attending program workshops. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatwedo/talking_walls.htm]

Georgians for Preservation Action

Founded in 1987, the statewide coordinating council for historic preservation advocacy encourages laws, programs and policies that promote the preservation of Georgia’s historic resources by mobilizing grassroots preservationists across the state. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/whatwedo/georgians_preservation_action.htm]

Among its activities, GaPA:

* Annually develops and advocates a legislative agenda that represents a consensus of the leaders of key preservation constituencies on preservation issues.
* Regularly communicates with historic preservation advocates about critical issues and legislation before the General Assembly.
* Hosts a Legislative Reception for preservation supporters to meet with legislators.
* Provides GaPA members with information on national preservation issues with news from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation Action, the national lobbying arm for historic preservation.

"Places in Peril"

The Georgia Trust releases an annual list of endangered historic sites throughout Georgia. The "Places in Peril" program seeks to identify significant historic, archaeological and cultural properties that are threatened by demolition, deterioration or insensitive public policy or development, and have a demonstrable level of community interest, commitment and support. Through this program, the Trust encourages owners and individuals, organizations and communities to employ preservation tools, partnerships and resources necessary to preserve and utilize selected historic properties in peril.

Historic properties are selected for listing based on several criteria. Sites must be listed or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places or the Georgia Register of Historic Places and must be subject to a serious threat to their existence or historical, architectural and/or archeological integrity. There must also be a demonstrable level of community commitment and support for the preservation of listed sites. [http://www.georgiatrust.org/preservation_resources/places_in_peril.htm]

The 2006 "Places in Peril" list includes:
* [http://www.cviog.uga.edu/Projects/gainfo/courthouses/terrellCH.htm Terrell County Courthouse] , Dawson
*Auburn Avenue Commercial District, Atlanta
* [http://www.andalusiafarm.org Andalusia] , Milledgeville
*Pasaquan, Marion County, Buena Vista
*Downtown Hartwell
*U.S. Highway 17, Brunswick
*Old Hawkinsville High School
* [http://www.atlantaga.gov/government/urbandesign_ponceapts.aspx Ponce de Leon Apartments] , Atlanta
*City Mills, Columbus
*Cowen Farmstead, Acworth

See also

* National Trust for Historic Preservation
* There are other state historic preservation organizations nationwide.

External links

* [http://www.georgiatrust.org The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation]

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