Pleasant Hill Historic District
Why it's listed
Pleasant Hill is a dense late 19th- and early 20th-century neighborhood in Macon, Georgia, spread across two hillsides that Interstate 75 has divided since the 1960s. Its modest, mostly one-story wooden houses include shotguns, saddlebags, L-shaped cottages and pyramidal-roof cottages, with porch trim in Victorian, Neoclassical and Craftsman styles. A few corner stores, a Masonic Lodge, St. Peter Claver Church and School, and Linwood Cemetery are scattered among them. The neighborhood began in the 1870s, when servants of wealthy families on nearby College Avenue settled here, and grew quickly in the 1890s and 1910s. Residents ranged from doctors, lawyers and educators to unskilled laborers, and many owned or built their own homes. The district was listed for its role in black history, for a land-use pattern that placed black neighborhoods on overlooked, hilly ground, and for its varied vernacular architecture, including work by local black builders and craftsmen.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district is significant for black history, community planning and development, and architecture. It documents the residential, commercial and institutional life of Macon's black community from the late 19th to early 20th century, and shows how black neighborhoods were placed on hard-to-build land. It also holds a wide range of vernacular house types built partly by local black builders.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 86001130, listed May 22, 1986. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Sheridan Ave. and Schofield St., Madison, Jefferson and Ferguson, and Galliard Sts., Macon |
|---|---|
| County | Bibb County |
| Listed | May 22, 1986 |
| Reference number | 86001130 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1870s - 1936 |
| Architect / builder | Multiple; local black builders named include G. Moughon, John Young, L.J. May and Zack Williams |
| Architectural style | Vernacular residential types (shotgun, saddlebag, L-shaped cottage, pyramidal-roof square plan) with Victorian, Neoclassical/Colonial Revival and Craftsman detailing |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Community Planning and Development, Black, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition rated fair and altered; the district is occupied and mostly in private residential, commercial and educational use. Linwood Cemetery is overgrown, and residents are working to restore it. |
| Acreage | 205 |
| Within district | Macon Historic District |
| Coordinates | 32.84517, -83.64486 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 86001130.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q49544132
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.