Tour - Historic Westville

Historic Westville

Columbus, Georgia 31903, United States

Created By: Historic Westville

Tour Information

Historic Westville is a museum of Southern history and culture representing the diversity of the Southern Experience. Our mission is to tell the stories of all southern peoples including European Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, and immigrants; how their lives were inextricably linked but their experiences diverse due to race, class, and gender.

Through the use of exhibits, interpreters, food, and crafts, visitors will learn about life in the 19th century South. Visitors will also see how major historical events affected the region and became part of the personal experiences of those who called the 19th century South home.

Tour Map

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What You'll See on the Tour

Thornton Welcome Center

This house was part of the original gift on the land that faced Lumpkin-Trotman Road. It was used as administrative offices at the old site in Lumpkin. Today, it serves as Historic Westville's Welcome Center and gift shop.

Chattahoochee County Courthouse

The Chattahoochee County Courthouse was built in 1854 by enslaved people. We do not know who the architect or builders were. It is one of the only antebellum wood-framed courthouses still standing in Georgia, and is one of two remaining f... Read more

Grimes House

Currently used as our staff and volunteer building, the Grimes House is closed to the public. The Grimes House once sat on a plantation and is typical of a wealthy home during the antebellum period. In an interview that took place around ... Read more

Wells House

The Wells House exhibits architecture that incorporates traditional Native styles and techniques as well as Euro-American. The log cabin was originally built by the Yuchi tribe in Buena Vista, GA. Log cabins were a common Native American ho... Read more

Damascus Methodist Church

The Damascus Church is of the Methodist denomination and was built in 1879. The beautiful painting in the interior of the building was completed by a journeyman painter. Journeymen painters would travel from town to town and would generally... Read more

Singer Boot Shop

A person that makes shoes is called a cordwainer. A cobbler is someone that repairs already-made shoes. This building was built in 1838, which makes it one of the older buildings here at Westville. The owner, Johan Singer, was the first sho... Read more

Singer House

The Singer family were German Immigrants who came to South Georgia and were an influential family in Lumpkin. This house is unusual in that it has two seperate entrances. Many of the items you’ll see in the building originally belonged to... Read more

Randle General Store

In the 1800s, general stores served the large rural population surrounding small towns and villages. For some farmers, it was considered to be a special and occasional trip to visit their closest general store. It would give them the opport... Read more

Paullin Medical Office

William Paullin was a doctor who built and practiced medicine in this building until his death in 1880. While this was the epicenter of his business, he would also make house calls to patients. At the beginning of the 19th century, doctors ... Read more

West Wood Shop

If you go inside the shop, you’ll see a large piece of machinery along one side. This is a hand-cranked lathe. Woodworkers still use these today, but the electric versions. It spins a block of wood so that it can be evenly carved. A carpe... Read more

Climax Presbyterian Church

In its years at Westville in Lumpkin, many programs and weddings have taken place in this building-including a funeral service. Presbyterians were among the earliest immigrants to America. When Georgia was founded as a colony in 1733, indiv... Read more

Kiser House

Kiser is not displayed as a historic home, but a place to serve food. At the beginning of the 19th century, people didn’t cook in ovens. They had to cook over an open fire. This is called open-hearth cooking. We often have demonstrations ... Read more

Woodruff Blacksmith Shop

Our blacksmith shop is a replica modeled after the Stubbs Blacksmith Shop, which was a functioning blacksmith's shop in Lumpkin built circa 1850. The forge, which is the large brick portion of the building, uses coals and air to heat metal ... Read more

Adams Clothier & Fine Fashions

In a rural town like Westville, clothing would have been made by hand. Cotton was the most commonly used fiber for fabric in this area. In the wiregrass region, which is southern Georgia, parts of Alabama, and northern Florida, it was mostl... Read more

Moye Print Shop

While paper is made out of wood pulp today, it would have been made from cloth in the first half of the 1800s. The first wood pulp paper mill in the US opened in 1867. A family would keep all of their small cloth scraps to make into anythin... Read more

Billingslea House

David Lewis of Whitesville, GA donated the Billingslea House to Historic Westville during the move to Columbus. It is now used to house the administrative offices of the organization. Construction began on this house in 1845 on land pur... Read more

McDonald House

Edward McDonald, the son of Scottish immigrants, moved to Cuthbert, Georgia from North Carolina where he married Eliza Ross in 1843. They had 9 children together. In 1859, he built a cotton warehouse. The business was near a new railroad m... Read more