Two historic downtown Augusta properties damaged by Hurricane Helene received grants from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation.
Helene peeled off the roof of St. John United Methodist Church and damaged the carriage house behind the Boyhood Home of Woodrow Wilson.
According to Historic Augusta’s website, Erick Montgomery wrote the carriage house “was lifted off the walls and moved over slightly by Hurricane Helene, splitting its center rafter.”
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation awarded $130,000 in grants for historic preservation projects in Georgia through its Callahan Incentive Grant and The 1772 Foundation Grant programs.
The Callahan Incentive Grant is made possible with funding from Barbara and Les Callahan, longtime supporters of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, to provide matching funding for historic preservation projects in the state of Georgia. Grants totaling $10,000 have been awarded to two recipients: the Church of the Good Shepherd (church vicarage, Thomasville) and St. John United Methodist Church (Augusta). Each grantee was awarded $5,000, according to a news release from the Georgia Trust.
The 1772 Foundation, partnering since 2023 with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, this year has awarded historic preservation matching grants totaling $120,000 to 13 Georgia private nonprofit organizations for maintenance of their historic sites. The grants ranged in amounts from $5,000 to the grant maximum of $10,000, which 11 organizations received.
The 2025 grant recipients are: Andrew Low House Museum (Savannah), The Arts Council (First Methodist Episcopal Church, Gainesville), Cobb Landmarks (William Root House, Marietta), Courthouse Square Development Inc. (Robinson-Glass House, Blakely), Enhancing Low Income Communities – ELICE, Inc. (East Park Cemetery, Vidalia), Friends of Historic Woolsey (Historic Woolsey Church, Woolsey), Georgia Writers Museum (Eatonton), Historic Augusta Incorporated (Woodrow Wilson House carriage barn, Augusta), Historic Macon Foundation (Historic District College Street house, Macon), Pebble Hill Foundation (Pebble Hill Plantation Fire House Complex, Thomasville), Pope’s Museum (Ochlocknee), Southern Forest World (historic fire tower, Waycross), and Friends of The Strand, Inc. (Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, Marietta).
Grants were provided for exterior work: painting; surface restoration; fire detection/security systems; repairs to/restoration of chimneys, porches, roofs, and windows; repairs to foundations and sills; and masonry repointing. Georgia Trust staff reviewed the grant applications and selected projects based on criteria including organizational capacity, realistic budget, community support, and immediacy of need. The Georgia Trust will manage the grants.
“These grants reflect the Georgia Trust’s unwavering commitment to preserving the historic places that define our communities and tell Georgia’s diverse stories,” said W. Wright Mitchell, President and CEO of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. “We’re deeply grateful to our generous partners — Barbara and Les Callahan, and The 1772 Foundation — whose support makes this important preservation work possible across the state.”
Augusta Good News is an award-winning member of the Georgia Press Association. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter here.
