Shingler Heights Historic District

Shingler Heights is a small, linear neighborhood of large houses and one church along North Main Street in Ashburn, Georgia, just north of the old commercial core. Development began in 1895, when sawmill and naval stores businessman James Simon Shingler built his Queen Anne house, "Sparrow's Nest," and continued to 1937. Sawmill owner and first mayor John Samuel Betts built nearby in 1897. Most buildings were designed by Macon architect Peter E. Dennis and range from Queen Anne and Folk Victorian to Neoclassical Revival, Craftsman and English Vernacular Revival. The Colonial Revival First Methodist Church, completed in 1917, sits on a man-made hill so it could be seen across town. Large lawns, mature trees, a pond and three pecan groves reflect "New South" landscaping, and one grove served as a city park from about 1900 to 1930. The district was listed for its architecture, community planning, landscape design and its links to two leading local figures.