{"nrhp_refnum":"01000975","name":"West Darien Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Bounded by 8th St., US 17, Darien River, and Cathead Creek","address_restricted":false,"city":"Darien","county":"McIntosh County","state":"GA","lat":31.372419763500062,"lon":-81.43603673011108,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-09-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Prehistoric","Historic - Non-Aboriginal","Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Commerce","Black"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district on the west side of Darien, McIntosh County, Georgia, bounded by 8th Street, U.S. Highway 17, the Darien River and Cathead Creek. It holds 151 contributing resources, mostly late 19th- and early 20th-century houses and commercial buildings on an 1806 grid plan, plus archaeological sites.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district reflects Darien's economic development through cotton, timber, shipping, fishing and early highway tourism. It keeps an intact 1806 gridiron plan and the African-American Mentionville neighborhood. It also has good examples of residential, commercial and community buildings, and archaeological sites that have yielded information.","narrative":"West Darien is the western section of the coastal Georgia town of Darien, laid out on a gridiron plan surveyed in 1806 by Thomas McCall. Union troops burned the town in 1863, so nearly all surviving buildings date from after the Civil War, mainly 1870 to 1910, when Darien thrived as a timber-exporting port. The district includes a commercial area along Broad Street and U.S. 17, white residential streets of mostly wooden cottages and bungalows, and Mentionville, an African-American neighborhood of shotgun, hall-parlor and central-hall houses near former sawmills. Bayard Square, home to the First Presbyterian Church, survives as the district's public square. Prehistoric shell middens and historic archaeological sites lie along Cathead Creek and the river bluff. The district was listed for its links to Darien's changing industries, its early planned town layout, its African-American heritage, its representative architecture, and the information its archaeological sites have provided.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival; Late 19th and Early 20th Century American Movements/Bungalow/Craftsman","criteria":["A","C","D"],"status_note":"Current uses include single dwellings, businesses, professional offices, specialty stores and religious facilities.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:42.84279-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/01000975.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000975/5c57828a70-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000975/5c57828a70-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Darien_West_HD01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Darien_West_HD01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93208945","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Darien_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q22058948"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/mcintosh-county/west-darien-historic-district-01000975/"}