Meadow Garden (Augusta, Georgia)
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = George Walton House
| nrhp_type = nhl
| image = File:Meadow Garden, Augusta, GA, US (02).jpg
| caption = Meadow Garden, 2017
| location = 1320 Independence Drive, Augusta, Georgia, 30901
| coordinates = {{coord|33.47376|N|81.97979|W|region:US-GA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = USA Georgia#USA
| area = {{convert|0.4|acre|ha}}
| built = 1794
| architect =
| architecture =
| designated_nrhp_type = December 21, 1981
| added = July 19, 1976{{NRISref|2007a}}
| refnum = 76000646
}}
Meadow Garden is a historic house museum at 1320 Independence Drive in Augusta, Georgia. It was a home of Founding Father George Walton (1749–1804), one of Georgia's three signers of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.{{cite book |last=Bernstein |first=Richard B. |author-link=Richard B. Bernstein |title=The Founding Fathers Reconsidered |chapter=Appendix: The Founding Fathers, A Partial List |pages=176–180|publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0199832576 |location=New York |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/foundingfathersr0000bern/page/176/mode/2up}} Walton was later elected governor of Georgia and also served as a United States senator. Meadow Garden was saved by the Daughters of the American Revolution, who established it as a museum in 1901. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1981.
Description and history
Meadow Garden is located on the west side of downtown Augusta, separated from the Augusta Canal by the Augusta Canal Historic Walking Trail, and just east of the Sutherland Mill. It is a {{frac|1|1|2}}-story wood-frame structure, set on a high brick basement. It was built in stages, originally three bays in width, but is now six, with three gabled dormers and two chimneys projecting from the gabled roof. A shed-roof porch extends across the front, supported by slender Doric columns. The facade is irregularly arranged, with two doors and four windows.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=76000646}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Meadow Garden / George Walton House|publisher=National Park Service|author=Georgia Department of Natural Resources|author2=Cecil McKithn |access-date=2016-01-03}} With {{NRHP url|id=76000646|photos=y|title=accompanying six photos, most from 1976}}
It is a Sand Hills cottage.
The oldest portion of the house, its right three bays, was built in 1791. The left three bays were added sometime after 1800, and the front porch was also probably added at a later date. Although the property was never owned by him, it was from 1791 to his death in 1804 the home of George Walton, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the Continental Congress (1776–1781) and in the Georgia militia, in whose service he was captured by the British during the 1778 Capture of Savannah. Exchanged and released, he was soon afterward elected Governor of Georgia, an office he held from November 1779 to January 1780. He also served as the state's Chief Justice, and in a second term as Governor 1789–80. He died at College Hill, his country house, in 1804. The house passed out of the Walton family in 1812, and is now owned and operated as a museum by the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
It was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey in 1934-35.{{HABS |survey=GA-2100 |id=ga0176 |title=Meadow Garden, Nelson Street, Augusta, Richmond County, GA |photos=6 |data=3 |supp=yes}} It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976, and further was promoted to a National Historic Landmark in 1981.
See also
{{commons category|Meadow Garden (Augusta, Georgia)}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.historicmeadowgarden.org/ Meadow Garden] - official site
- {{HABS |survey=GA-2100 |id=ga0176 |title=Meadow Garden, Nelson Street, Augusta, Richmond County, GA |photos=6 |data=3 |supp=yes}}
- [http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/Augusta/index.html Augusta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary]
- [http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/Augusta/meadowgarden.html Meadow Garden - National Park Service article]
- [http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/picturingaugusta/aep003.php Postcard image of Meadow Garden] Picturing Augusta: Historic Postcards from the Collection of the East Central Georgia Regional Library
{{National Register of Historic Places in Richmond County, Georgia}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Augusta, Georgia}}
Category:National Historic Landmarks in Augusta, Georgia
Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:Houses completed in 1794
Category:Sand Hills cottage architecture
Category:Houses in Augusta, Georgia
Category:Historic house museums in Georgia (U.S. state)
Category:Museums in Augusta, Georgia
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Augusta, Georgia
Category:1794 establishments in the United States