Fields Place-Vickery House
Also known as: Vickery House
Why it's listed
Begun around 1860 as the Old Fields Place, this two-story frame house in Dahlonega began as a three-room log-framed dwelling with weatherboard siding. Between 1895 and 1908 it was enlarged and remodeled into a Victorian country house, with a wider central hall, a second floor, a new porch with turned posts and scroll brackets, and two-over-two windows. Only two left-hand rooms with early Victorian mantels remain from the original house. The house is tied to Dahlonega and North Georgia College. Professor B. Palmer Gaillard, who taught for 50 years, lived here until 1895, when Professor Elias Benton Vickery bought it. Vickery taught Latin for 39 years and served as mayor. Earlier owner Wier Boyd was a lawyer, legislator, Confederate colonel and gold mine owner. The Vickery heirs gave the house to the Dahlonega Club in 1974 for restoration as a community center, library and museum. The nomination also presents the house as an example of middle-income Victorian design.
Significance in brief: The house is significant locally for its association with two long-serving North Georgia College professors, B. Palmer Gaillard and Elias Benton Vickery, and with Wier Boyd, a lawyer, legislator and gold investor. Its architecture represents a modest Victorian house of the middle class, enlarged and updated as the owners' income and family grew.
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 78000994, listed December 14, 1978. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | W. Main St. and Vickery Dr., Dahlonega |
|---|---|
| County | Lumpkin County |
| Listed | December 14, 1978 |
| Reference number | 78000994 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1800-1899, 1900- |
| Architect / builder | John D. Fields (built c. 1860) |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian |
| Areas of significance | Education, Architecture, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Owned by the Dahlonega Club and being restored as a community center, library and local history museum; exterior restoration complete and interior restoration well underway at the time of nomination. |
| Acreage | 1.4 |
| Coordinates | 34.53051, -83.98802 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 78000994.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q24060779
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.