Events and Programs
DHC hosts a wide variety of educational and fun events throughout the year. Please join our e-mail list to get timely updates.
MAY LUNCH AND LEARN, With Dr. David Rotenstein
Reviving South Decatur: Urban Homesteading and its Effects
Tuesday, May 22, Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Historic DeKalb Courthouse, 101 E. Court Square, Decatur GA 30030, Second Floor, Superior Courtroom
In 1975 Decatur became one of 23 American cities to have neighborhoods included in a new federal program devoted to returning foreclosed and abandoned homes to private homeownership. South Decatur in the 1960s had undergone a rapid transition from an all-white neighborhood to a majority African American neighborhood. Many of the new African American homeowners were unprepared for homeownership and their properties slipped into foreclosure. By the mid-1970s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development was South Decatur’s largest residential property owner and property manager. The titles to more than 100 vacant homes in HUD’s portfolio were transferred to Decatur’s Housing Authority and 113 of those homes were sold to new owners for one dollar. The Urban Homesteading program was designed to attract new homeowners who would receive low-interest loans to rehabilitate their new houses to bring them up to code and spur investment in surrounding properties.
Urban Homesteading was authorized under the same legislation that created Community Development Block Grants. Together, these two acts enabled the rehabilitation of residential properties throughout South Decatur, improvements to McKoy and Oakhurst parks, and the area’s first streetscape improvement project in the newly rebranded Oakhurst business district. By the turn of the twenty-first century, Oakhurst was a bustling and trendy Decatur neighborhood. This presentation looks at South Decatur’s history and the impacts that the Urban Homesteading program had on the neighborhood and the greater city.
David Rotenstein graduated from Georgia State University and worked as an archaeologist with the Georgia Department of Transportation before attending graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania. He has a Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife and he has worked in public history and historic preservation for more than 25 years. Dr. Rotenstein has taught history and cultural anthropology and he has written on blues history, industrial history, and vernacular architecture.
Free - bring your lunch!
Log Cabin Storytelling
Weekly storytelling session in June and July for kids ages 6-12
10 a.m.– 11 a.m.
Wednesdays at the historic Biffle Cabin, 720 W. Trinity Pl., Decatur 30030 (Behind the Swanton House)
July LUNCH AND LEARN, With Leigh Burns and Richard Laub
Why is THAT house historic? Understanding Local Historic Districts
Tuesday, July 24, Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Historic DeKalb Courthouse, 101 E. Court Square, Decatur GA 30030, Second Floor, Superior Courtroom
Leigh Burns and Richard Laub will present information on the often misunderstood local historic district. Together they will answer:
- What is a “Certified Local Government”?
- How can I protect my historic neighborhood?
- What is the value of a local historic district?
- What is good infill construction and why does it matter?
- Why do we care about scale and rhythm if this isn’t a music class and what does size have to do with history?
Leigh Burns is the preservation planner and Certified Local Government coordinator at the Historic Preservation Division. Before starting with HPD in the spring of 2007, she worked with R.S. Webb & Associates, a cultural resource management firm in Holly Springs, Georgia. In addition to her historic preservation experience, Leigh also worked for many years with the Michael C. Carlos Museum of Emory University. An Atlanta native, Leigh has earned degrees from Young Harris College and The University of Georgia. In 2001, she completed her Master's degree from the Heritage Preservation Program at Georgia State University.
Since 1998 Richard Laub has been the Director of the Heritage Preservation Master's Degree Program in the Department of History at Georgia State University. Richard has worked in the field of historic preservation for over 30 years, receiving his initial training as a restoration craftsman with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Subsequent to his work at the National Trust, he received training in the theory and practice of architectural conservation at the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome, Italy. Upon returning to the U.S., Richard attended the University of Virginia, where he received a Master's Degree in Planning with a Certificate in Historic Preservation in 1987. After graduating from the University of Virginia, Richard worked for the Georgia Historic Preservation Division, where he worked for 14 years as their Architectural Reviewer and Community Planning Coordinator, providing individuals, communities and organizations throughout the state with preservation planning assistance.
Free - bring your lunch!
