Five new historic homes coming to the Chattahoochee Valley

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - A park in the historic district of Columbus is about to get a major overhaul with the addition of five historic houses.

Work at Heritage Park is expected to begin soon, turning the walking history trail back into a more residential area.

This all started at a staff meeting in January of 2021 when the historic district committee was given the task to figure out what to do with Heritage Park. The walking history park was becoming a bit of an eyesore; the waterfall no longer works, and there are several aging statues. The Historic district came up with plans to revitalize the area.

“And what it will include is moving the history elements that are within Heritage Park across the street to the promenade so that the promenade itself can be revitalized with a new history trail created telling our communities history from our Native American history all the way through civil rights,” said Elizabeth Walden

The president of Historic Columbus John Sheftall says the city of Columbus deeded the land over to them as part of a contractual agreement, giving them the opportunity to bring five historic homes to where Heritage Park is currently located. Those homes will be renovated and will be up for sale.

“It’s Going to benefit of the citizens of Columbus it is also going to add to the tax base with this block being returned to residential but it’s not going to cost the city or the government a dime,” said John Sheftall.

Columbus City Councilor Joanne Cogle, who represents this district, says this new plan from the historic district will be great for the city.

‘’ You know, preserving the history and the culture of Columbus is very important, and so having the opportunity of having what we were going to have as new the new Heritage Park directly across the street on the same side of the Coca-Cola Space Science Center is going to really tie in the Riverwalk and the dragonfly trails and the Coca-Cola Space Science Center the neighborhood and so it’s a good community effort for all’'

Mayor Skip Henderson says with the deterioration of Heritage Park, it’s nice knowing citizens of Columbus already had a great idea.

“The vision to salvage five other historic homes that otherwise might be lost and create a sort of a living walkthrough trail for history it’s just incredible,” said Mayor Skip Henderson.

Three of those historic homes are donations from Historic Westville Village, one from a family in Preston, and the other house is already in the area. It will simply be moved across the street.

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