CED Visits Historic African-American School in Rural Georgia

Maurice Blount of the University Architects Office and a first year PhD student in the College of Environment and Design joined Danny Sniff on a visit to Taliaferro County recently to inspect the historic Springfield School, a log structure built in the early decades of the 20th century. The unique building was used first as a school for African Americans and later as a sewing plant. During the Civil Rights era of the 1960s the school was also a rallying place for voter registration. (Taliaffero County, established in 1825, is an agricultural county about 50 miles east of Athens and has less than 2000 residents.)

Pictured here with Maurice Blount (left) is Cory Chapman, 97, who attended the school as a young man. Chapman offered details and insights into the history of the building. The visit was part of an effort to update an historic structure report that was done about 15 years ago here at CED. The community group working on the saving the historic site is in the process of getting a grant to replace the roof and shore up the building.

Danny Sniff co-teaches the building materials class with Professor Mark Reinberger and oversees the historic structure reports, which are used in the rehabilitation process.