Fitzgerald GA Architectural Tour

It used to be a turpentine forest before the Union soldiers came. And the road into town is still lined with pine forest interspersed with cotton fields.

The history of the town dates back to 1895 when P.H. Fitzgerald, a newspaper editor from Indianapolis and former drummer boy in the Union army, bought land in southeast Georgia to establish a “colony” for aging Union veterans of the Civil War. Why relocate? After the War Indiana farmland was stricken with blizzards and drought and nothing would grow in the dust. In the new town of Fitzgerald, men who once fought each other on the battlefield now worked to build a city where North and South reunited.

What remains today is a charming historic district where visitors can see the beautifully kept homes built by the settlers dating from that era. You can drive or take a walking tour of the area using a downloadable guide.

Harris House - Queen Ann style, built c. 1905

Phillip Jay House - Unusual house that has only three masonry Doric columns, built c. 1905

Dorminy-Massee B&B, built c. 1915

Glover House with Victorian turret, c. 1900

Blue and Gray Museum with Civil War artifacts

If you go, don’t miss the Wild Chicken Festival in March that celebrates locally grown, colorful Burmese chickens.