Definitions: Historic Resources

Georgia was founded in 1733 as one of the thirteen original American colonies. Since then, its history and its landscape have been shaped by the activities and interactions of three peoples: Americans of European decent, African Americans, and Native Americans. For two centuries prior to English colonization, the Spanish with their African servants and slaves explored what would later become Georgia. The presence of Europeans and Africans in the “New World” was preceded by thousands of years of Native American occupation.

The 12,000-year history of what we now know as Georgia has left its mark all across the state. Not only in metropolitan areas, where the signs of civilization are everywhere, but also in the most remote mountain valleys, along and in rivers and streams, across vast stretches of field and forest, deep in seemingly inaccessible swamps, on coastal marshes and islands, even underwater off the coast--there is hardly an acre of Georgia untouched by the past.

Physical evidence of Georgia's history takes the form of: Buildings, Structures, Objects, Archaeological Sites, Historic Sites, Traditional Cultural Properties, Historic Landscapes, Historic Districts and African American Historic Properties.

Additionally, historic context statements provide important information and resources for preservationists, historians, planners, and the general public about topically related historic resources.