A number of lifelong Hinesville residents offered insight into local historic sites Thursday during an information session. It was hosted by the Hinesville Historic Preservation Commission at the Mills House.
The commission is currently gathering photographs, documents and stories to be included in a historic site survey.
The survey is being conducted by Robert Ciucevich with QuatreFoil Consulting of Savannah. The consulting firm’s work is being funded by a certified local government survey and planning grant from the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, according to the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority.
“We’re looking at sites and at structures throughout the city to determine if they have a value in being preserved,” Hinesville Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Pete Clark said.
He said once the survey is complete, the commission will report findings to the Hinesville City Council.
“We’re not an approving body, we’re a recommending group,” he said.
Clark, who was born and raised in Hinesville, said there are residents who remember what life was like before Fort Stewart was organized as Camp Stewart in the 1940s.
“These are folks we knew had a family connection and first-hand knowledge of Hinesville from family-owned property and growing up in Hinesville prior to Camp Stewart,” Clark said. “They have a vast knowledge.”
He said he and his fellow commission members appreciate their input.
Several members of old Hinesville families, including Olin Fraser and George and Martha Sue Ginter attended the session. Long-time history enthusiast Margie Love also attended.
Ciucevich showed photographs of downtown buildings, asking when they were constructed, how they were used and who the former owners may have been.
The building at 128 S. Main St. was where Clark’s family’s newspaper, the Liberty County Herald, was once housed.
“Jeff Arnold’s business is there now,” Clark said.
Session attendees reminisced about how the building shook when the printing press started. A drugstore and a barber shop run by J.R. Morgan also were on that end of the street, they said.
The amateur historians told Ciucevich about a Dr. Welborn who ran a small hospital on the second floor over what is now Joy Marie’s and The Frame Gallery on Main Street.
HDDA Executive Director Vicky Davis said old wheelchairs and antique IV bottles were found in the former hospital’s rooms. Several people at the session laughingly commented the building is haunted and has even been investigated by local ghost hunters.
The building where German restaurant Zum Rosen Hof is once housed a bank on the ground floor, session participants said. Its upstairs rooms were used as a meeting space for a Masonic lodge and the Knights of Pythias, Fraser and Martha Sue Ginter said.
Clark said local residents brought so much information that individual appointments had to be made, so more information can be added to the survey.
“We have been working on this (survey) for quite some time,” he said. “The commission was active a few years ago and was then put on hold. Vicki (Davis) helped get the group going again.”
For more information, call (912) 877-4332 or e-mail HDDA@coastalnow.net.
The commission is currently gathering photographs, documents and stories to be included in a historic site survey.
The survey is being conducted by Robert Ciucevich with QuatreFoil Consulting of Savannah. The consulting firm’s work is being funded by a certified local government survey and planning grant from the Historic Preservation Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, according to the Hinesville Downtown Development Authority.
“We’re looking at sites and at structures throughout the city to determine if they have a value in being preserved,” Hinesville Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Pete Clark said.
He said once the survey is complete, the commission will report findings to the Hinesville City Council.
“We’re not an approving body, we’re a recommending group,” he said.
Clark, who was born and raised in Hinesville, said there are residents who remember what life was like before Fort Stewart was organized as Camp Stewart in the 1940s.
“These are folks we knew had a family connection and first-hand knowledge of Hinesville from family-owned property and growing up in Hinesville prior to Camp Stewart,” Clark said. “They have a vast knowledge.”
He said he and his fellow commission members appreciate their input.
Several members of old Hinesville families, including Olin Fraser and George and Martha Sue Ginter attended the session. Long-time history enthusiast Margie Love also attended.
Ciucevich showed photographs of downtown buildings, asking when they were constructed, how they were used and who the former owners may have been.
The building at 128 S. Main St. was where Clark’s family’s newspaper, the Liberty County Herald, was once housed.
“Jeff Arnold’s business is there now,” Clark said.
Session attendees reminisced about how the building shook when the printing press started. A drugstore and a barber shop run by J.R. Morgan also were on that end of the street, they said.
The amateur historians told Ciucevich about a Dr. Welborn who ran a small hospital on the second floor over what is now Joy Marie’s and The Frame Gallery on Main Street.
HDDA Executive Director Vicky Davis said old wheelchairs and antique IV bottles were found in the former hospital’s rooms. Several people at the session laughingly commented the building is haunted and has even been investigated by local ghost hunters.
The building where German restaurant Zum Rosen Hof is once housed a bank on the ground floor, session participants said. Its upstairs rooms were used as a meeting space for a Masonic lodge and the Knights of Pythias, Fraser and Martha Sue Ginter said.
Clark said local residents brought so much information that individual appointments had to be made, so more information can be added to the survey.
“We have been working on this (survey) for quite some time,” he said. “The commission was active a few years ago and was then put on hold. Vicki (Davis) helped get the group going again.”
For more information, call (912) 877-4332 or e-mail HDDA@coastalnow.net.