A collective of Decatur neighborhoods featuring most of the city’s oldest existing residences, was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The listing includes Glennwood Estates, a small portion of Decatur Heights and the Sycamore Street Historic District. It’s bounded by Sycamore Street on the south, Decatur Cemetery on the west, Forkner Drive on the north, and Sycamore Drive on the east.
The district includes the High House on North Candler Street and Sycamore Street, probably the oldest two-story structure in the city. Legend claims the-circa 1830 building was a 19th-century hotel/home since Sycamore was once part of the stagecoach route to Augusta.
A national register listing makes homeowners in the district eligible for federal and state tax incentives, and grants, but it doesn’t place restrictions on private homeowners.
“We can’t do anything about demolitions in [districts on the National Register of Historic Places],” said City Planner Angela Threadgill. “For instance from 2009 to 2015, nine contributing historic houses were demolished in the Winnona Park district.”
This is Decatur’s seventh district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The others: the McDonough-Adams-Kings Highway district (the city’s first residential subdivision), Agnes Scott, downtown, West Clairemont, Winnona Park and the Scottish Rite Hospital complex.
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