{"nrhp_refnum":"70000227","name":"Washington-Wilkes Historical Museum","other_names":["Barnett-Slaton House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"308 E. Robert Toombs Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Washington","county":"Wilkes County","state":"GA","lat":33.735400422000055,"lon":-82.73403427699998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1970-05-13","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story white frame house museum at 308 East Robert Toombs Avenue in Washington, Wilkes County, Georgia, also known as the Barnett-Slaton House. The earliest section dates to about 1835-1836, with major enlargement around 1857.","why_significant":"It is a house museum representing life in antebellum Georgia, with furnished rooms, restored grounds and a notable Civil War relic collection. Architecturally, it grew by accretion from a modest early house into a mansion, showing local craft traditions and details from the Federal to the Downingesque styles.","narrative":"This white frame house at 308 East Robert Toombs Avenue in Washington, Georgia, now serves as a museum of antebellum life. Its oldest portion was built around 1835 or 1836 by Albert Gallatin Semmes. Samuel Barnett, Georgia's first Railroad Commissioner, bought the property in 1857 and greatly enlarged it with front rooms, hallways and the present staircase. The Barnett family kept it until 1913, and the Slaton family lived there until 1955. The city then acquired it and deeded it to the state. Architect Thomas G. Little directed restoration in 1958 and 1962, including the Downingesque trellis-work verandas. The house has 18 rooms, a restored kitchen on the ground floor, furnished parlors and a dining room on the main floor, and a Civil War relic collection upstairs. Its significance rests on both its museum role and its architecture. It grew by accretion into an unpretentious mansion, reflecting local building traditions rather than the grand columned image of plantation houses.","period_of_significance":"19th and 20th centuries; specific dates c. 1835; c. 1857; restoration 1958, 1962","architect_builder":"Albert Gallatin Semmes (earliest section); Samuel Barnett (1857 enlargement); Thomas G. Little, historical architect (restoration)","architectural_style":"Federal to Downingesque details on a simple four-square form of two weatherboarded, shuttered cubes","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as excellent; used as a museum operated by the Georgia Historical Commission; restored in 1958 and 1962, with a later parapet restoration planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.703914-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/70000227.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000227/dcba408039-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/70000227/dcba408039-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TampAGS, for AGS Media","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington-Wilkes_Historical_Museum,_Wilkes_County,_GA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">TampAGS, for AGS Media</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:Washington-Wilkes_Historical_Museum,_Wilkes_County,_GA.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04001319","name":"Washington Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/washington-historic-district-04001319/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209987","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington-Wilkes_Historical_Museum","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17033772"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/wilkes-county/washington-wilkes-historical-museum-70000227/"}