Augusta is rich with history. Established in 1736 by James Oglethorpe, Georgia’s second oldest city thrived as a trading post, political hub, and eventually a winter colony that attracted wealthy Northerners in search of better weather and an energetic social scene. Augusta served as Georgia’s capital from 1785 to 1796. George Walton, the state’s second chief executive officer and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, lived here. He and Lyman Hall, another of Georgia’s three signers, are buried beneath the Signer’s Monument on Greene Street. George Washington visited our city in 1791; Lafayette in 1825. Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts founded the internationally regarded Augusta National in 1932. James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, grew up in Augusta and spent much of his life here – that is, when he wasn’t gettin’ up offa that thing all over the world. Augusta is home to the oldest African American church in the country, the 13th oldest medical school, a 19th century United States Arsenal, and the boyhood digs of President Woodrow Wilson. Nine Augusta neighborhoods, including Bethlehem, Pinchgut, and Summerville, are on the National Register of Historic Places. Our beloved Forrest Hills is not, but its early appeal to Augustans and those wealthy winter colonists was indisputable. Developed by Blanchard and Calhoun Real Estate Company in the 1920s, Forrest Hills garnered national attention for its curved brick roads, elegant estates, and the luxurious Forrest-Ricker Hotel. Dr. A.J. Kilpatrick, Sr., one of Augusta’s first obstetricians, wanted to be a part of the excitement, but his wife was reluctant to leave their downtown home, a former Colonial inn known as the Mansion House. Dr. Kilpatrick’s negotiating skills must have equaled his clinical expertise, because he successfully brokered a deal with his wife. They would indeed move to Forrest Hills, and they would bring the Mansion House with them. The good doctor hired an architect, a contractor, and two construction crews to dismantle the structure – board by board, brick by brick – and reassemble it on Comfort Road. The carriage house and stable were left on Greene Street and converted into an office for Dr. Kilpatrick. The Mansion House, built in the late 1700s and moved to Forrest Hills in 1929, is one of the oldest structures in Augusta and the entire state of Georgia. We knew we were on to something when we developed Forrest Hills. We had no idea our project would inspire one of Augusta’s earliest acts of historic preservation.