Henderson Avenue Historic District

277 Henderson Avenue, Carr-Nicholson-Galis House, moved from 387 Milledge Avenue in the 1880's and purchased by Homer K. Nicholson, City Engineer and prolific Athens architect of the 20th century.

with John Whitehead

Saturday, June 27 @ 10 am

Thursday, September 24 @ 7 pm

Henderson Avenue is a peaceful residential enclave set amidst the bustling Milledge Avenue/Baxter Street corridors. The wide street and stately, overhanging oaks make it the perfect place for an evening stroll or casual conversation on a shaded front porch. The Henderson neighborhood consists of a very small portion of the 633-acre tract purchased by John Milledge in 1801 and given to the trustees of the University of Georgia. In 1845, William A. Carr purchased a significant parcel of this land from UGA and donated it for a street that he requested be named “Southern States Rights Street,” the forerunner of Henderson Avenue. The earliest house on Henderson dates to this period, but the period of most significant development occurred during the final two decades of the 19th century, largely due to the streetcar line which ran from Milledge Avenue to downtown. Most of the residences date from the late 1800s and exhibit Victorian-era building forms and stylistic detailing. There are several outstanding examples of Folk Victorian design as well as a few dwellings built in the early twentieth century Craftsman style. Henderson Avenue is part of the Dearing Street National Register District, and the tour will include portions of Milledge Avenue and Church Street. This tour will last approximately 1 1/2 hours.

Your tour guide:

John Whitehead is professor emeritus of history at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and retired to his family home at 236 Henderson Ave which his parents, Thomas and Dorothy Whitehead, built in 1938. He attended Childs Street School, Barrow School, and graduated from Athens High in 1963. He received his degrees from Yale University and has taught at Selwyn College, Cambridge, England as well as at Yale. Since retiring, Whitehead teaches part time at the University of Georgia and in the summers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He is a member of the Classic City Rotary Club and is Executive Director of the Foundation for Excellence in Public Education in Clarke County, Georgia.

Day of tour instructions: Please note: advance reservations are required. Henderson Avenue is located off Milledge Avenue, one block north of Baxter Street. Please park behind the Butler Building at 337 South Milledge Avenue. Plan to arrive 10-30 minutes prior to the tour start so you can enjoy mimosas served on the porch of Peggy and Denny Galis’ home at 229 Henderson Avenue. From there, mosey over to Joan and Gary Bertch’s home at 228 Henderson Avenue to relax in their beautiful garden until the tour begins.