The Macon-Bibb County Urban Development Authority (UDA) has received a $310,000 grant from the National Park Service to restore and rejuvenate the DeWitt-McCrary House (320 Hydrolia Street). The funds will be used for masonry repairs, siding repairs, roof repairs, door and window repairs, electrical improvements, and HVAC improvements.

“This is a great chance to rejuvenate one of Macon’s oldest buildings and will be one of the two capstone projects for the revitalization of Mill Hill East Macon Arts Village,” says Alex Morrison, UDA Executive Director. “It will serve as a direct connection between our past and our future, linking our history to where we are going as a community.”

The house sits outside the Ocmulgee Mounds National Historical Park and will become the site of the new Muscogee Cultural Center. The Congressional-directed spending allocation will allow the UDA to work alongside the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve Initiative (ONPPI) to restore this historic treasure into a a multi-use, cultural facility where this partnership can continue to grow and the tribe’s ancestral story can be told.

“We’re grateful for our Congressional delegation’s consistent support in preparing middle Georgia to be home to the country’s 64th National Park and Preserve,” says ONPPI Executive Director Seth Clark. “This investment will further strengthen the partnership between Middle Georgia and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation by allowing us to develop a space where they can tell their own story, while also finding opportunities to steward these lands outside of the park gates.”

The project is funded in part by a grant from the Historic Preservation Fund, as administered by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

If you have questions or would like to comment on the project, contact UDA Executive Director Alex Morrison at 478-803-2402.