The Watson-Brown Foundation Junior Board is composed of eight-to-fifteen talented high school students in the 10th-12th grade from central Georgia who are charged with preserving history in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) of Georgia.  The Junior Board was responsible for awarding about $33,000.00 in grant monies this year.  Since first starting, the self-perpetuating Junior Board has awarded more than $100,000 in historic preservation grants. These students chose the local non-profit organization, Allied Arts, as one of this year’s grant recipients. 

Allied Arts will use the award, along with funds donated by Friends of Allied Arts, to make exterior improvements to the historic Griffin-Baugh Cottage, located on the corner of N. Wayne and Montgomery St, c. 1810. The small cottage has a rich history, and Allied Arts is doing research to learn even more about its past. 

In 1979, when the Marlor House was undergoing the initial restoration and adaptation, Allied Arts’ founder, Betty Snyder, learned that owner, Mr. Floyd Griffin, Sr., intended to dismantle the cottage and use the lumber to build a funeral chapel. Snyder met with Mr. Griffin and explained that the cottage was the only surviving example of architecture from Milledgeville’s first decade and should not be destroyed.  After negotiations between Snyder and Griffin, the house was donated to the City of Milledgeville with the stipulation that it must be moved.

On November 28, 1979, the house was moved to a temporary location at 265 North Wayne Street, which was directly across the street from its original location. Snyder had originally made plans to dig out a basement dining room, similar to what was at the original location, and set the house over it on a permanent foundation. However, only basic maintenance work was able to be performed on the house in the following years to keep it from further deteriorating. 

Architectural elements of the Griffin Cottage include a high, early Federal style mantle in the parlor flanked by windows with nine over nine lights, lending a somewhat formal balance and subtle sophistication to the room.

Allied Arts is ultimately working towards renovating and restoring the Griffin-Baugh Cottage to provide a new venue for programming opportunities for local residents to experience and the grant from the Watson Brown Junior Board will enable Allied Arts to begin the renovations and restorations of this historical structure.