Historic buildings hold history that must be preserved

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November 7, 2009

Anonymous The Union-Recorder Sat Nov 07, 2009, 08:00 AM EST

Milledgeville is often associated with its architecture, and recently two notable local structures — the Sallie Davis House last year and Central State Hospital just this week — have received support in an effort to preserve them for generations to come. This effort to preserve and restore these two pieces of architecture that have impacted Milledgeville and Baldwin County’s history should certainly be lauded.

Each year, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation releases its list of “Places in Peril” in an effort to bring awareness to the state’s aging structures and garner support for restoring them. The Central State Hospital campus, once the largest mental health facility in the nation, is among those included on this year’s list.

Many of the buildings on this year’s list, as in years past, have suffered at the hand of neglect, lack of proper maintenance and misguided development. In many instances, lack of resources or support have thwarted restoration efforts. It would be difficult to imagine, however, how Baldwin County’s written history would look without even a mention of Sallie Davis House, which was so vital in the education of numerous African-Americans pre-desegregation, named after the local education pioneer, or Central State Hospital.

It’s largely true that people and communities can’t fully know where they are going if they can’t see or acknowledge where they have been — whether it be desegregation or the decentralization mental health care. These structures are a part of the history that has shaped Baldwin County and what it is today.

Said Georgia Trust CEO and President Mark C. McDonald of this year’s list: “We hope the list will continue to draw attention to a broad range of Georgia’s imperiled historic resources by highlighting 10 representative sites.”

If buildings such as Sallie Davis House and the Central State Hospital campus are lost, then so too will be a part of Milledgeville and Baldwin County. The history these aging structures and the numerous others here in Baldwin County hold must be preserved so that generations to come can see, feel and grasp all that is this community.

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