Writer: Staff Reports
Published June 22, 2022
Walker County Messenger The Catoosa County News
Fort Oglethorpe’s Downtown Development Authority members put the recently-completed RSVP plan to work by volunteering 44 hours of sweat equity to restore the four original Army Post columns at the intersection of LaFayette and Harker Roads.
The columns were pressure-washed, primed and painted by members Jeff Epperson, Byron Anderson, Bob Dial, Charles Faulkner, Chris McKeever and Geo Mejia. City Council member Paula Stinnett also joined in with painting.
“We learned about the Renaissance Strategic Visioning Plan (RSVP) recommendations when the results were presented by the Carl Vinson Institute,” said DDA chairman Jeff Epperson. “We discussed the plan at our May meeting and saw that the restoration would be a simple project that we could take on that would have an immediate impact. We spent two weekends getting the columns finished and they look great.”
The Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland reports that the value of an hour of volunteer service is $28.54, with the value of the hours worked and supplies at $1,600.
The next project in Fort Oglethorpe’s historic downtown is the historic markers that will be placed around Barnhardt Circle, on the restored columns and in front of the Post gym and Post stable on LaFayette Road. The 6th Cavalry Museum received a Vibrant Communities grant from the Georgia Arts Council to design and manufacture eighteen outdoor signs that tell the military history of the Army Post at Fort Oglethorpe (1902-1946) using original Signal Corps photos and text.
