You can't get into the courthouse without walking past this marker that reminds us of the end of…read morethe Civil War and the important part of it that took place right here in Washington. It stands within shouting distance of the Wilkes County Confederate Memorial. The marker has the same text on both sides. It reads, "On May 4, 1865, Jefferson Davis arrived in Washington where he performed what proved to be his last duties as President of the Confederate States of America. Shortly thereafter, with a small staff and escort, he departed enroute to the trans-Mississippi Department where, undaunted by the tragic surrenders at Appomattox and Durham Station, he intended to unite the forces of Generals E. Kirby Smith, Taylor, Forrest, Maury and Magruder "to form an army, which in the portion of that country abounding in supplies, and deficient in rivers and railroads, could have continued the war until our enemy, foiled in the purpose of subjugation, should in accordance with his repeated declaration, have agreed, on the basis of a return to the Union, to acknowledge the Constitutional rights of the States, and by a convention, or quasi-treaty, to guarantee the security of person and property." "After a hard journey via Sandersville, Dublin and Abbeville, his party camped a mile north of Irwinville (178 miles SW), in the present Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park. At dawn on May 10th, his camp was surrounded by men of the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan cavalry regiments [US], and the President of the Southern Confederacy became a "state prisoner," his hopes for a new nation, in which each state would exercise without interference its cherished "Constitutional rights," forever dead. It is marker number 157-12 and it was erected in 1957 by the Georgia Historical Commission. [Review 242 of 2026 - 939 in Georgia - 25431 overall]

This jail is a pretty cool old piece of history. It is a small building and not much to see…read moreinside, but it is interesting to read some of the history. There is a short audio history out front.

THE OLD GREENE COUNTY GAOL! (CREEPY COOL!)…read more The old gaol (pronounced jail), is an old historic jail that was used to house prisoners from 1807 until 1895. Between 1760 and 1830 the word jail was actually spelled g-a-o-l and this is how it is spelled on the historic marker that sits in front of this structure. This place is creepy cool and every bit as old as it looks. It is a two story structure that was basically used to house and hang prisoners. As soon as you walk in and look to the left, you see a hanging rope. There is no mistaking this rope as it is hanging through a little trap door and you can easily imagine a body dropping through this opening and swinging at the end of the rope. Next to the door is a large empty room with a large arched doorway and I wondered if there were any makeshift beds provided or if prisoners simply sat on the floor and chained to the walls. A chain was still there. There are actually two such rooms on the main level and when I stood at the rear of the room, I was immediately transported back in time and had all types of thoughts running through my head. Weird! The steps to the second level were very narrow and I did not go up to that level. However my husband did and expressed concern that it was so open and posed a risk for young kids who might wander up there. Please keep this in mind when you visit with your kids and provide the appropriate level of supervision. When I visited, there were several young children going in and up the stairs without an adult present. This is a structure that you must see when visiting Greensboro as it has been identified as the oldest jail in the state and is something to see. I do wonder if it is used as an attraction during Halloween. Whatever you do, don't forget to visit this site while in town and although there is no specific address, you absolutely cannot miss it once you turn on to Greene Street.

The Mary Willis Library ended up being a quiet Sunday‑morning stop for us, and even though the…read moredoors were locked, the exterior alone made it worth pausing. The red brick, the steep Queen Anne roofline, and those tall stained‑glass windows give the building the presence of a small civic cathedral, and the central Tiffany memorial window still manages to glow even when you're viewing it from outside. It's one of those places where the architecture does the talking, and you can feel the pride that went into building it. The historical marker fills in the story and makes the building even more meaningful. "This library was Georgia's first free (without a subscription fee) public library. Founded in 1888 by Dr. Francis T. Willis in memory of his daughter, it opened in 1889. Willis also created an endowment for the library and donated his personal collection of books. Atlanta architect Edmund Lind designed the building in the Queen Anne style and the central memorial window was made by Tiffany Studios. The library operated as a privately-endowed institution until 1967 when it became part of the regional library system. Annexes were added in 1977 and 1991." Even without stepping inside, it's a lovely stop. The stained glass is beautiful, the brickwork photographs well in morning light, and the whole place feels like a reminder of how seriously communities once took the idea of public learning. I'd love to come back on a weekday to see the interior and the rare book collection, but even from the sidewalk, this is a gem. [Review 235 of 2026 - 932 in Georgia - 25424 overall]

The Historic Dugas Home sits along East Robert Toombs Avenue, just a short walk from the heart of…read moredowntown Washington, and even though the house itself can be hard to glimpse through the trees, the weathered marker still anchors one of the town's most layered stories. The house, known historically as Pleasant Shade, evolved over time as later owners added an upper story and, in 1860, the massive Greek Revival columns that still define its façade, all crafted from virgin bald cypress harvested from the Augusta swamps. The marker reads, "This home was built by Mr. and Mrs. Louis Dugas, French refugees from Santo Domingo, in the early 1790s. Here, until 1810, Mrs. Dugas conducted the Boarding School for Select Young Ladies which was attended by the daughters of many of Georgia's outstanding early settlers. In this home was born Louis Alexander Dugas (1806-98) who became one of the State's most distinguished physicians and surgeons. Educated at home, he studied medicine under Dr. John Dent, later was graduated from the University of Maryland, and after spending some time in Europe as a student returned to settle in Augusta, Georgia. A founder of the Medical College of Georgia, Dr. Dugas was for many years Professor of Surgery there. He was President of the Medical Society of Augusta and of the Medical Association of Georgia, and from 1851 to 1858 edited the Southern Medical and Surgical Journal. During the War Between the States he served as Volunteer and Consulting Surgeon of Military Hospitals. "In later years this home was occupied by Dr. Thomas Dunwoody, distinguished Presbyterian minister, pastor of the Washington Presbyterian Church." It is marker number 157-2 and it was erected in 1961 by the Georgia Historical Commission. [Review 231 of 2026 - 931 in Georgia - 25420 overall]

At one end of Washington Square, the Confederate Memorial rises, and just beside it a historical…read moremarker notes that this was the site of the last cabinet meeting held by CSA President Jefferson Davis. It's the kind of pairing you expect to find in a Georgia courthouse square, but it was nice to see a counterbalance at the opposite end, a monument honoring the Black patriots who fought in the Continental Army. The two ends of the square speak to very different chapters of American memory, and walking between them on a quiet Sunday morning gives you time to take that in. The simple bust represents Austin Dabney, the best‑known Black patriot associated with Georgia. Dabney and his owner, Richard Aycock, moved from North Carolina to Wilkes County in the late 1770s, and to avoid service himself, Aycock sent Dabney to fight in his place. Dabney was present at the Battle of Kettle Creek on 14 February 1779, one of Georgia's most important engagements of the war. In recognition of his service, he was granted his freedom, land in Wilkes County, and a pension. Because no contemporary image of Dabney survives, sculptor Kinzey Branham used the likeness of James Armistead Lafayette, another African‑American patriot who gained his freedom after the war. It's not the only memorial I've seen in the South that honors Black Americans who served in the Civil War era. In Hertford, North Carolina, there's the US Colored Troops Monument, a reminder that these stories are finally being carved into public spaces after generations of being overlooked. So while this monument in Washington isn't unique, it still feels meaningful in a square long dominated by Confederate memory. As we move from the 19th century to the 21st, I expect to see more of these monuments appear across the South, each one adding a little more balance to the landscape and giving visitors a fuller sense of who actually shaped the country. [Review 263 of 2026 - 954 in Georgia - 25452 overall]

The Campbell Home sits along East Liberty Street in one of Washington's most walkable historic…read morecorridors, and even with the landscaping starting to crowd the marker, the house itself still commands attention. The façade is unusually symmetrical for a Georgia residence of this period, and the paired front doors immediately stand out from the sidewalk. On a quiet morning the house has that settled, slightly formal presence that many of Washington's early homes share, the kind that makes you slow down and take a second look before you cross the street. The house itself is architecturally unusual. The two identical front doors are not a decorative flourish but part of the structure's original design, reflecting the fact that the building is essentially two houses joined together. The wainscoted panels beneath the front windows were built to open, a feature rarely seen today but still documented in the marker text. This distinctive configuration helped the property earn a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 under the name Campbell‑Jordan House, a title that reflects later ownership by the Jordan family. It is also sometimes referred to as the Campbell‑Lindsey House, acknowledging the Lindsey family who lived here during the mid‑twentieth century. The marker reads, "This was once the home of two distinguished Georgians -- father and son. "Duncan G. Campbell was noted for drafting the treaty that removed the Cherokee Indians from Georgia and also for introducing in the Georgia Legislature the first bill for providing for higher education for women. John Archibald Campbell, born here in 1811, was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1853 until 1861, when he resigned to become Assistant Secretary of War for the Southern Confederacy. After the war he practiced law in New Orleans. "This house is really two houses in one. It has two identical front doors and the wainscoated panels under the front windows open. Marker number 157‑5, erected in 1953 by the Georgia Historical Commission, remains the clearest summary of the home's significance, even if you have to brush a few branches aside to read it. [Review 238 of 2026 - 935 in Georgia - 25427 overall]

The home of Sarah Porter Hillhouse sits just east of the center of Washington, a stately…read moreFederal‑style structure that still reads clearly from the street even as the traffic along East Robert Toombs Avenue moves past it in a steady rhythm. The house has that early‑19th‑century balance and restraint that Washington does so well, with its clean lines, tall windows, and a sense of proportion that feels both New England in origin and fully adapted to Georgia's frontier prosperity. The text on the marker captures the essentials of Sarah Hillhouse's remarkable life, but standing in front of the house you can feel the weight of what it meant for a woman in the early 1800s to run a newspaper, a print shop, and a set of business ventures in a community that was still transitioning from frontier settlement to established town. The marker reads, "This Federal style house was begun in 1814, by Sarah Porter Hillhouse who came to Washington in 1786, from Connecticut with her husband David. In 1801, David purchased the town's first newspaper The Monitor, and when he died in 1803, Sarah became the first woman in Georgia to edit and publish a newspaper which she continued to run for more than a decade, along with the print shop her husband had established. Here she also printed the official records of the state legislature. Articles in The Monitor, which generally had a circulation of 700 to 800, give a vivid account of events of interest to the people of Washington in the early 1800's. Mrs. Hillhouse's other business interests included trading in land and commerce. Her letters provide an interesting insight to life in early Washington. She was a successful businesswoman at a time when women were seldom active outside the home, and she helped to build a frontier village into a thriving community. "Her home was enlarged to its present form in 1869, when Gabriel Toombs acquired the property, and moved the end rooms from the Toombs Plantation on log rollers and added them to the house. Toombs and his descendants lived here for more than a century." It is marker number 157-32 and it was erected in 1995 by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. It is surrounded by other historic structures like the Washington Presbyterian Church and the Toombs‑Anderson House, makes it part of a living streetscape where the early layers of Washington's history are still visible in the architecture, the street grid, and the quiet dignity of these old homes. Do keep in mind that it's private property so please don't trespass! [Review 237 of 2026 - 934 in Georgia - 25426 overall]

This marker stands on the Washington Square lawn in front of the Wilkes County Courthouse, and it…read moregives a compact but accurate summary of how the county took shape in the late colonial and Revolutionary period. It reads, "Wilkes County, an original County, was created by the Constitution of Feb. 5, 1777 from Creek and Cherokee Cessions of June 1, 1773. At first, it contained all of Oglethorpe, Elbert, Lincoln, and parts of Taliaferro, Hart, Warren, and Madison Counties. It was named for John Wilkes (1727-1797), English politician and publicist, who strongly opposed measures leading to war with the colonies. First County Officers were: John Dooly, Sheriff, comm. Feb. 9, 1778; Samuel Creswell, Surveyor, comm. Feb. 18, 1783; Benjamin Catching, Clk. of Sup. and Inf. Cts., comm. Jan. 2, 1785; Howell Jarrett, Coroner, comm. 1790." It is marker number 157-11 and it was erected in 1956 by the Georgia Historical Commission. [Review 243 of 2026 - 940 in Georgia - 25432 overall]